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The  Rush  for  the  Gold-fields. 


\°l 

THE  (  g 

Romance  of   Industry 


AND 


NVENTION 


SELECTED  BY 

ROBERT    COCHRANE 

EDITOR  OF 

'great  thinkers  and  workers,'  'beneficent  and  useful  lives,'  'adventure 

and  adventurers,'  '  recent  travel  and  adventure,'  '  good 

and  great  women,'  'heroic  lives,'  &c. 


PHILADELPHIA 
B.    LIPPIXCOTT    COMPANY 
1897 


Edinburgh  : 
Printed  by  W.  &.  R.  Chambers,  Limited. 


-v^w 


PREFACE. 


Our  national  industries  lie  at  the  root  of  national  pro- 
gress. The  first  Napoleon  taunted  us  with  being  a  nation 
of  shopkeepers ;  that,  however,  is  now  less  true  than  that 
we  are  a  nation  of  manufacturers — coal,  iron,  and  steel, 
and  our  textile  industries,  taken  along  with  our  enormous 
carrying-trade,  forming  the  backbone  of  the  wealth  of  the 
country. 

A  romantic  interest  belongs  to  the  rise  and  progress  of 
most  of  our  industries.  Very  often  this  lies  in  the  career 
of  the  inventor,  who  struggled  towards  the  perfection  and 
recognition  of  his  invention  against  heavy  difficulties  and 
discouragements;  or  it  may  lie  in  the  interesting 
processes  of  manufacture.  Every  fresh  labourer  in  the 
field  adds  some  link  to  the  chain  of  progress,  and  brings 
it  nearer  perfection.  Some  of  the  small  beginnings  have 
increased  in  a  marvellous  way.  Such  are  chronicled  under 
Bessemer  and  Siemens,  who  have  vastly  increased  the 
possibilities  of  the  steel  industry ;  in  the  sections  devoted 
to  Krupp,  of  Essen  ;  Sir  W.  G.  Armstrong,  of  the  Elswick 
Works,  where  18,000  men  are  now  employed  alone  in  the 
arsenal ;  Maxim,  of  Maxim  Gun  fame  ;  the  rise  and  pro- 
gress of  the  cycle  industry ;  that  of  the  gold  and  diamond 
mining  industry ;   and  the  carrying-trade  of  the  world. 

Many  of  the  chapters  in  this  book  have  been  selected 
from  a  wealth  of  such  material  contributed  from  time  to 
time  to  the  pages  of  Chambers's  Journal,  but  additions  and 
fresh  material  have  been  added  where  necessary. 


LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Page 

The  Rush  for  the  Gold-fields Frontispiece 

Nasmyth's  Steam-hammer 19 

Bessemer  Converting  Vessel 28 

Bessemer  Process 30 

Krupp's  15-6  Breech-loading  Gun  (breech  open) 47 

Josiah  Wedgwood 52 

Wedgwood  at  Work 56 

Portland  Vase 62 

The  Worcester  Porcelain  Works 64 

Chinese  Porcelain  Vase 71 

Wool-sorters  at  Work 82 

Cotton  Plant 101 

The  Hand-cradle  Method  of  extracting  Gold 103 

Welcome  Nugget 106 

Hydraulic  Gold-mining 115 

Prospecting  for  Gold 125 

Square-cut  Brilliant,  Round-cut  Brilliant,  Rose-cut  Diamond 136 

Kimberley  Diamond-mine 1 39 

Some  of  the  Principal  Diamonds  of  the  World 145 

The  Great  Harry 153 

Catling  Gun  on  Field  Carriage 163 

Nordenfelt-Palmcrantz  Gun  mounted  on  Ship's  Bulwark 1 64 

Lord  Armstrong 1 66 

Rifle-calibre  Maxim  Gun 178 

One  of  the  'Wooden  Walls  of  Old  England ' 184 

The  Majestic 1S6 

Section  of  the  Goubet  Submarine  Boat 190 

The  Dandy-horse 204 

The  Great  Eastern  and  the  Persia 232 

The  Campania 237 

Clipper  Sailing-ship  of  1850-60 241 

La  France 246 

The  Great  Eastern  paying  out  the  Atlantic  Cable 281 

Edison  with  his  Phonograph 291 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    I. 

IRON    AND    STEEL. 

Page 
Pioneers  of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Industry — Sir  Henry  Bessemer 
— Sir  William  Siemens — Werner  von  Siemens — The  Krupps  of 
Essen 9 

CHAPTER    II. 

POTTERY    AND    PORCELAIN. 
Josiah    Wedgwood    and    the    Wedgwood    Ware — Worcester 
Porcelain 51 

CHAPTER    III. 

THE    SEWING    MACHINE. 
Thomas    Saint — Thimonnier — Hunt — Elias    Howe — Wilson — 
Morey — Singer 72 

CHAPTER    IV. 

WOOL    AND    COTTON. 

Wool. — What  is  Wool  ? — Chemical  Composition — Fibre — 
Antiquity  of  Shepherd  Life — Varieties  of  Sheep — Introduction 
into  Australia — Spanish  Merino — Wool  Wealth  of  Australia 
— Imports  and  Exports  of  Wool  and  Woollen  Produce — Woollen 
Manufacture 81 

Cotton.— Cotton  Plant  in  the  East  — Mandeville's  Fables 
about  Cotton — Cotton  in  Persia,  Arabia,  and  Egypt — Colum- 
bus finds  Cotton-yarn  and  Thread  in  1492 — In  Africa — Manu- 
facture of  Cloth  in  England — The  American  Cotton  Plant 91 

CHAPTER     V. 

GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 
Gold. — How  widely  distributed — Alluvial  Gold-mining — Vein 
Gold-mining — Nuggets — Treatment    of    Ore   and    Gold    in   the 


S  CONTENT?. 

Page 
Transvaal — Story  of  South  African  Gold-fields— Gold-production 
of  the  World — Johannesburg  the  Golden  City— Coolgardie  Gold- 
fields — Bayley's  discover}-  of  Gold  there 102 

Diamonds.  —  Composition  —  Diamond  -  cutting  —  Diamond- 
mining — Famous  Diamonds — Cecil  J.  Rhodes  and  the  Kiniberley 
Mines. 135 

CHAPTER    VI. 

BIG    GUNS,    SMALL-ARMS,    AND    AMMUNITION. 
Woolwich  Arsenal — Entield  Small-arms  Factory — Lord  Arm- 
strong and  the  Elswick  Works — Testing  Guns  at  Shoeburyness 
— Hiram    S.    Maxim  and  the  Maxim  Machine  Gun — The  Colt 
Automatic  Gun — Ironclads — Submarine  Boats, 152 

CHAPTER    VII. 

THE    EVOLUTION    OF    THE    CYCLE. 
In  praise  of  Cycling — Number   of   Cycles    in    Use — Medical 
Opinions — Pioneers  in  the    Invention — James    Starley — Cycling 
Tours. 192 

CHAPTER      VIII. 

STEAMERS  AND  SAILING-SHIPS. 
Early  Shipping — Mediterranean  Trade — Rise  of  the  P.  and  O. 
and  other  Lines — Transatlantic  Lines — India  and  the  East — 
Early  Steamships — First  Steamer  to  cross  the  Atlantic — Rise  of 
Atlantic  Shipping  Lines— The  Great  Eastern  and  the  New 
Cunarders  Campania  and  Lucania  compared — Sailing-ships 205 

CHAPTER    IX. 

POST-OFFICE TELEGRAPH — TELEPHONE — PHONOGRAPH. 

Rowland  Hill  and  Penny  Postage— A  Visit  to  the  Post-office 
— The  Post-office  on  Wheels — Early  Telegraphs — Wheatstone 
and  Morse — The  State  and  the  Telegraphs — Atlantic  Cables — 
Telephones — Edison  and  the  Phonograph 247 


ROMANCE  OF  INDUSTRY 


AND 


INVENTION, 


CHAPTER     I. 

IRON    AND    STEEL. 

Pioneers  of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Industry— Sir  Henry  Bessemer— Sir 
William  Siemens — Werner  von  Siemens — The  Krupps  of  Essen. 

RANCIS  HORNER,  writing  early  in  this 
century,  said  that  '  Iron  is  not  only  the  soul 
of  ever}'  other  manufacture,  but  the  main- 
j  spring  perhaps  of  civilised  society.'  Cobden 
has  said  that  ■  our  wealth,  commerce,  and 
manufactures  grew  out  of  the  skilled  labour  of  men  work- 
ing in  metals.'  According  to  Carlyle,  the  epic  of  the 
future  is  not  to  be  Arms  and  the  Man,  but  Tools  and  the 
Man.  \Ye  all  know  that  iron  was  mined  and  smelted  in 
considerable  quantities  in  this  island  as  far  back  as  the 
time  of  the  Romans ;  and  we  cherish  a  vague  notion  that 
iron  must  have  been  mined  and  smelted  here  ever  since 
on  a  progressively  increasing  scale.  We  are  so  accus- 
tomed to  think  and  speak  of  ourselves  as  first  among  all 
nations,  at  the  smelting-fumace,  in  the  smithy,  and  amid 
the  Titanic  labours  of  the  mechanical  workshop,  that  we 


IO  IRON    AND    STEEL- 

open  large  eyes  when  we  are  told  what  a  recent  conquest 
all  this  superiority  is  ! 

There  was,  indeed,  some  centuries  later  than  the  Roman 
occupation,  a  period  coming  down  to  quite  modern  times, 
during  which  English  iron-mines  were  left  almost  unworked. 
In  Edward  III.'s  reign,  the  pots,  spits,  and  frying-pans  of 
the  royal  kitchen  were  classed  among  his  majesty's  jewels. 
For  the  planners  of  the  Armada  the  greater  abundance 
and  excellence  of  Spanish  iron  compared  with  English 
was  an  important  element  in  their  calculations  of  success. 
In  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  the  home  market 
looked  to  Spain  and  Germany  for  its  supply  both  of  iron 
and  steel.  After  that,  Sweden  came  prominently  forward ; 
and  from  her,  as  late  as  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  no  less  than  four-fifths  of  the  iron  used  in  this 
country  was  imported ! 

The  reason  of  this  marvellous  neglect  of  what  has  since 
proved  one  of  our  main  sources  of  wealth  lay  in  the 
enormous  consumption  of  timber  which  the  old  smelting 
processes  entailed.  The  charcoal  used  in  producing  a 
single  ton  of  pig-iron  represented  four  loads  of  wood, 
and  that  required  for  a  ton  of  bar-iron  represented  seven 
loads.  Of  course,  the  neighbourhood  of  a  forest  was  an 
essential  condition  to  the  establishment  of  ironworks  ;  but 
wherever  such  an  establishment  was  effected,  the  forest 
disappeared  with  portentous  rapidity.  At  Lamberhurst, 
on  the  borders  of  Kent  and  Sussex,  with  so  trifling  a  pro- 
duce as  five  tons  per  week,  the  annual  consumption  of 
wood  was  two  hundred  thousand  cords.  The  timber 
wealth  of  Kent,  Surrey,  and  Sussex — which  counties  were 
then  the  centres  of  our  iron  industry — seemed  menaced 
with  speedy  annihilation.  In  the  destruction  of  these 
great  forests,  that  of  our  maritime  power  was  supposed  to 
be  intimately  involved ;  so  that  it  is  easy  to  understand 
how,  in  those  days,  the  development  of  the  iron  manufac- 


SUSSEX    IRON-FURNACES.  II 

ture  came  to  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  a  national  calamity, 
and  a  fitting  subject  for  restrictive  legislation  !  Various 
Acts  were  passed  towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century 
prohibiting  smelting- furnaces  within  twenty-two  miles  of 
London,  and  many  of  the  Sussex  masters  found  them- 
selves compelled,  in  consequence,  to  break  up  their  works. 
During  the  civil  wars  of  the  seventeenth  century,  a  severe 
blow  was  given  to  the  trade  by  the  destruction  of  all 
furnaces  belonging  to  royalists ;  and  after  the  Restoration 
we  find  the  crown  itself  demolishing  its  own  works  in  the 
Forest  of  Dean,  on  the  old  plea  that  the  supply  of  ship- 
building timber  was  thereby  imperilled.  Between  1720 
and  1730  the  ironworks  of  Worcestershire  and  the  Forest 
of  Dean  consumed  17,350  tons  of  timber  annually,  or  five 
tons  for  each  furnace. 

1  From  this  time '  (the  Restoration),  says  Mr  Smiles,  '  the 
iron  manufacture  of  Sussex,  as  of  England  generally,  rapidly 
declined.     In   1740  there  were  only  fifty-nine  furnaces  in 
all  England,  of  which  ten  were  in  Sussex;   and  in   1788 
there  were  only  two.     A  few  years  later,  and  the  Sussex 
iron-furnaces  were  blown    out    altogether.      Farnhurst  in 
Western,  and  Ashburnham  in  Eastern  Sussex,  witnessed 
the  total  extinction  of  the  manufacture.     The  din  of  the 
iron  hammer  was  hushed,  the  glare  of  the  furnace  faded, 
the  last  blast  of  the  bellows  was  blown,  and  the  district 
returned    to    its    original    rural    solitude.      Some    of   the 
furnace-ponds    were    drained    and    planted   with   hops  or 
willows ;  others  formed  beautiful  lakes  in  retired  pleasure- 
grounds;   while   the   remainder  were  used   to  drive  flour- 
mills,  as  the  streams   in   North   Kent,  instead   of  driving 
fulling-mills,  were   employed   to   work   paper-mills.'      The— 
plentifulness  of  timber  in  the  Scottish  Highlands  explains- 
the   establishment   of   smelting-furnaces,    in    1753,   by  an»- 
English  company  at   Bunawe  in  Argyllshire,  whither  the— 
iron  was  brought  from  Furness  in  Lancashire. 


12  IRON    AND    STEEL. 

Few  of  our  readers  can  be  unacquainted  with  the  fact 
that  iron-smelting  at  the  present  day  is  performed  not 
with  wood  but  with  coal.  It  will  readily,  then,  be  under- 
stood that  the  substitution  of  the  one  description  of  fuel 
for  the  other  must  have  formed  the  turning-point  in  the 
history  of  the  British  iron  manufacture.  This  substitution, 
however,  was  brought  about  very  slowly.  The  prejudice 
against  coal  was  for  a  long  period  extreme;  its  use  for 
domestic  purposes  was  pronounced  detrimental  to  health ; 
and,  even  for  purposes  of  manufacture,  it  was  generally 
condemned.  Nevertheless,  as  wood  became  scarcer  and 
dearer,  a  closer  examination  into  the  capabilities  of  coal 
came  naturally  to  be  made ;  and  here,  as  in  almost  every 
other  industrial  path,  we  find  a  foreigner  acting  as  our 
pioneer.  The  Germans  had  long  been  experienced  in 
mining  and  metallurgy;  and  it  was  a  German,  Simon 
Sturtevant,  who  first  took  out  a  patent  for  smelting 
iron  with  coal.  But  his  process  proved  a  failure,  and 
the  patent  was  cancelled.  Other  Germans,  naturalised 
here,  followed  in  Sturtevant's  footsteps,  but  with  no  better 
results;  until  at  last  an  Englishman,  Dud  Dudley  (1599- 
1684),  took  up  the  idea,  and  gave  it  practical  success. 
The  town  of  Dudley  was  even  then  a  centre  of  the  iron 
manufacture,  and  Dud's  noble  father,  Lord  Dudley,  owned 
several  furnaces.  But  here,  also,  the  forest-wealth  of  the 
district  was  fast  melting  away,  and  the  trade  already 
languished  under  the  dread  of  impending  dissolution. 
In  the  immediate  neighbourhood,  meanwhile,  coal  was 
abundant,  with  ironstone  and  limestone  in  close  proximity 
to  it.  Dud,  who,  as  a  child,  had  haunted  and  scrutinised 
his  father's  ironworks  with  wondering  delight,  was  placed 
just  at  this  juncture  in  charge  of  a  furnace  and  a  couple  of 
forges,  and  immediately  turned  his  energetic  mind  to 
the  question  of  smelting  with  coal.  Some  careful  ex- 
periments succeeded  so  well  that  he  wrote  to  his  father, 


COALBROOKDALE.  1 3 

requesting  him  to  take  out  a  patent  for  the  process ; 
and  this  patent,  registered  in  Lord  Dudley's  name, 
and  dated  the  22d  February  1620,  properly  inaugurated 
the  great  metallurgic  revolution  which  had  made  the 
English  iron  trade  what  it  now  is.  Andrew  Yarranton 
was  another  pioneer  in  the  iron  and  tin-plate  industry,  and 
wrote  a  remarkable  work  on  England 's  Improvement  by 
Sea  a?id  Land  (1677-81). 

Nevertheless,  even  with  this  positive  success  on  record, 
the  inert  insular  mind  long  refused  to  follow  the  path 
cleared  for  it.  Dud's  discovery  'was  neither  appreciated 
by  the  iron-masters  nor  by  the  workmen  ;'  and  all  schemes 
for  smelting  ore  with  any  other  fuel  than  wood-charcoal 
were  regarded  with  incredulity.  His  secret  seems  to 
have  been  bequeathed  to  no  one,  and  for  many  years 
after  his  death  the  old,  much-abused,  forest-devouring 
system  went  tottering  on.  Stern  necessity,  however, 
taught  its  hard  lesson  at  last,  and  a  period  insensibly 
arrived  when  the  employment  of  coal  in  smelting  pro- 
cesses became  the  rule  rather  than  the  exception,  and 
might  be  seen  here  and  there  on  an  unusually  large 
scale — especially  at  the  celebrated  Coalbrookdale  works, 
in  the  valley  of  the  Severn,  Shropshire. 

The  founder  of  the  Coalbrookdale  industries  was  a 
Quaker — Abraham  Darby  (1677-1717).  A  small  furnace 
had  existed  on  the  spot  ever  since  the  days  of  the  Tudors, 
and  this  small  furnace  formed  the  nucleus  of  that 
industrial  activity  which  the  visitor  of  Coalbrookdale 
surveys  with  such  wonder  at  the  present  day. 

In  Darby's  time,  the  principal  cooking  utensils  of 
the  poorer  classes  were  pots  and  kettles  made  of  cast- 
iron.  But  even  this  primitive  ware  was  beyond  native 
skill,  and  most  of  the  utensils  in  question  were  imported 
from  Holland.  Exercising  an  effort  of  judgment,  which, 
moderate   as   it   was,   seems   to   have   been   hitherto  un- 


14  IRON    AND    STEEL. 

exampled,  Darby  resolved  to  pay  that  country  a  visit, 
and  ascertain  in  person  why  it  was  that  Dutch  castings 
were  so  good  and  English  so  bad.  The  use  of  dry 
sand  instead  of  clay  for  the  moulds  comprised,  he  found, 
the  whole  secret. 

On  returning  to  England,  Darby  took  out  a  patent 
for  the  new  process,  and  his  castings  soon  acquired 
repute.  The  use  of  pit-coal  in  the  Coalbrookdale  furnaces 
is  not  supposed,  however,  to  have  become  general  until 
the  worthy  Abraham  had  been  succeeded  \y  his  son ; 
but  when  it  once  did  become  so,  the  impetus  thereby 
given  to  the  iron  trade  and  to  coal-mining  was  immense. 
It  is  the  latter  industry  which  may  pre-eminently  claim 
to  have  called  the  steam-engine  into  existence.  The 
demand  for  pumping -power  adequate  to  the  drainage 
of  deep  mines  set  Newcomen's  brain  to  work ;  and 
the  engine  rough-sketched  by  his  ingenuity,  and  perfected 
by  the  genius  of  Watt,  soon  increased  enormously  the 
production  of  iron  by  rendering  coal  more  accessible 
and  the  blast-furnace  more  efficient. 

A  son-in-law  of  Abraham  Darby's,  Richard  Reynolds  by 
name,  made  a  great  stride  towards  the  modern  railway 
by  substituting  iron  for  wood  on  the  tramways  which 
connected  the  different  works  at  Coalbrookdale;  and 
it  was  a  grandson  of  the  same  Abraham  who  designed 
and  erected  the  first  iron  bridge. 

England,  we  have  seen,  borrowed  the  idea  of  her 
smelting  processes  and  iron-castings  from  Germany  and 
Holland;  but  the  discovery  of  that  important  material, 
cast-steel,  belongs,  at  least,  to  one  of  her  own  sons.  Yet 
even  here  the  relationship  is  a  merely  conventional  one, 
for  Benjamin  Huntsman  (1704- 17 76)  was  the  child  of 
German  parents  who  had  settled  in  Lincolnshire. 

Huntsman's  original  calling  was  that  of  a  clock-maker ; 
but  his  remarkable  mechanical  skill,  his  shrewdness,  and 


huntsman's  discovery  of  cast- steel.  15 

his  practical  sense,  soon  gave  him  the  repute  of  the 
1  wise  man '  of  the  district,  and  brought  neighbours  to 
consult  him  not  only  as  to  the  repair  of  every  ordinary 
sort  of  machinery,  but  also  of  the  human  frame — the 
most  complex  of  all  machines  !  It  was  his  daily  experi- 
ence of  the  inferior  quality  of  the  tools  at  his  command 
that  led  him  to  make  experiments  in  the  manufacture  of 
steel.  What  his  experiments  were  we  have  no  record 
to  show ;  but  that  they  must  have  been  conducted  with 
Teutonic  patience  and  thoroughness  there  can  be  no  doubt, 
from  the  formidable  nature  of  the  difficulties  overcome. 

England,  however,  long  refused  to  make  use  of  Hunts- 
man's precious  material,  although  produced  in  her  very 
midst.  The  Sheffield  cutlers  would  have  nothing  to  do 
with  a  substance  so  much  harder  than  anything  they 
were  accustomed  to,  and  Huntsman  was  actually  com- 
pelled to  look  for  his  market  abroad !  All  the  cast-steel 
he  could  manufacture  was  sent  over  to  France,  and  the 
merit  of  employing  this  material  for  general  purposes 
belongs  originally  to  that  country.  The  inventions  of 
Henry  Cort  (1 740-1800)  for  refining  and  rolling  iron 
(1785)  were  the  mainspring  of  the  malleable  iron  trade, 
and  made  Great  Britain  independent  of  Russia  and  Sweden 
for  supplies  of  manufactured  iron.  One  authority  has 
stated  that  since  1790,  when  Cort's  improvements  were 
entirely  established,  the  value  of  landed  property  in 
England  had  doubled.  But  he  was  unfortunate  in  business 
life,  and  in  181 1  upwards  of  forty  iron  firms  subscribed 
towards  a  fund  for  the  assistance  of  his  widow  and  nine 
orphan  children.  David  Mushet  (17 7 2- 1847)  did  much 
for  the  expansion  of  the  iron  trade  in  Scotland  by  his 
preparation  of  steel  from  bar-iron  by  a  direct  process, 
combining  the  iron  with  carbon,  and  by  his  discovery  of 
the  effect  of  manganese  on  steel. 

Steel  is  the  material  of  which  the  instruments  of  labour 


l6  IRON    AND    STEEL. 

are  essentially  made.  Upon  the  quality  of  the  material, 
that  of  the  instrument  naturally  depends,  and  upon  the 
quality  of  the  instrument,  that,  in  great  measure,  of  the 
work.  Watt's  marvellous  invention  ran  great  risk,  at  one 
time,  of  being  abandoned,  for  the  simple  reason  that  the 
mechanical  capacities  of  the  age  were  not  '  up '  to  its 
embodiment.  Even  after  Watt  had  secured  the  aid  of 
Boulton's  best  workmen,  Smeaton  gave  it  as  his  opinion 
that  the  steam-engine  could  never  be  brought  into  general 
use,  because  of  the  difficulty  of  getting  its  various  parts 
made  with  the  requisite  precision. 

The  execution  by  machinery  of  work  ordinarily  executed 
by  hand-tools  has  been  a  gigantic  stride  in  the  path  of 
material  civilisation.  The  earliest  phase  of  the  great 
modern  movement  in  this  direction  is  represented,  prob- 
ably, by  the  sawmill.  A  sawmill  was  erected  near 
London  as  long  ago  as  1663 — by  a  foreigner — but  was 
shortly  abandoned  in  consequence  of  the  determined 
hostility  of  the  sawyers ;  and  more  than  a  century  elapsed 
before  another  mill  was  put  up.  But  the  sawmill  is 
comparatively  a  rude  structure,  and  the  material  it 
operates  upon  is  easily  treated,  even  by  the  hand. 
When  we  come  to  deal,  however,  with  such  substances 
as  iron  and  steel,  the  benefit  of  machinery  becomes 
incalculable.  Without  our  recent  machine-tools,  indeed, 
the  stupendous  iron  creations  of  the  present  day  would 
have  been  impossible  at  any  cost;  for  no  amount  of 
hand-labour  could  ever  attain  that  perfect  exactitude  of 
construction  without  which  it  would  be  idle  to  attempt 
fitting  the  component  parts  of  these  colossal  structures 
together. 

The  first  impulse,  however,  to  the  improvement  of 
machine-tools  for  ironwork  was  given  by  a  difficulty 
born  not  of  mass  but  of  minuteness. 

Up  to  the  end  of  the  last  century,  the  locks  in  common 


BRAMAH    AND    MAUDSLEY.  1 7 

use  among  us  were  of  the  rudest  description,  and  afforded 
scarcely  any  security  against  thieves.  To  meet  this  uni- 
versal want,  Joseph  Bramah  set  his  remarkable  inventive 
faculties  to  work,  and  speedily  contrived  a  lock  so  perfect, 
that  it  held  its  ground  for  many  a  day.  But  Bramah's 
locks  are  machines  of  the  most  delicate  kind,  depending 
for  their  efficiency  upon  the  precision  with  which  their 
component  parts  are  finished ;  and,  at  that  time,  the  attain- 
ment of  this  precision,  at  such  a  price  as  to  render  the  lock 
an  article  of  extensive  commerce,  seemed  an  insuperable 
difficulty.  In  his  dilemma,  Bramah's  attention  was  directed 
to  a  youngster  in  the  Woolwich  Arsenal  smithy,  named 
Henry  Maudsley,  whose  reputation  for  ingenuity  was 
already  great  among  his  fellows.  Bramah  was  at  first  al- 
most ashamed  to  take  such  a  mere  lad  into  his  counsels ; 
but  a  preliminary  conversation  convinced  him  that  his 
confidence  would  not  be  misplaced.  He  persuaded 
Maudsley  to  enter  his  employment,  and  the  result  was 
the  invention,  between  them,  of  the  planing- machine, 
applicable  either  to  wood  or  metal,  as  also  of  certain 
improvements  in  the  old  lathe,  more  particularly  of  that 
known  as  the  'slide-rest.' 

In  the  old-fashioned  lathe,  the  workman  guided  his 
cutting-tool  by  sheer  muscular  strength,  and  the  slightest 
variation  in  the  pressure  necessarily  led  to  an  irregularity 
of  surface.  The  rest  for  the  hand  is  in  this  case  fixed, 
and  the  tool  held  by  the  workman  travels  along  it.  Now, 
the  principle  of  the  slide-rest  is  the  opposite  of  this.  The 
rest  itself  holds  the  tool  firmly  fixed  in  it,  and  slides  along 
the  bench  in  a  direction  parallel  with  the  axis  of  the  work. 
All  that  the  workman  has  to  do,  therefore,  is  to  turn  a 
screw-handle,  by  means  of  which  the  cutter  is  carried 
along  with  the  smallest  possible  expenditure  of  strength; 
and  even  this  trifling  labour  has  been  since  got  rid  of,  by 
making  the  rest  self-acting. 

B 


l8  IRON    AND    STEEL. 

Simple  and  obvious  as  this  improvement  seems,  its 
importance  cannot  be  overrated.  The  accuracy  it  insured 
was  precisely  the  desideratum  of  the  day !  By  means  of 
the  slide-rest,  the  most  delicate  as  well  as  the  most 
ponderous  pieces  of  machinery  can  be  turned  with 
mathematical  precision ;  and  from  this  invention  must 
date  that  extraordinary  development  of  mechanical  power 
and  production  which  is  a  characteristic  of  the  age  we  live 
in.  '  Without  the  aid  of  the  vast  accession  to  our  power 
of  producing  perfect  mechanism  which  it  at  once  supplied,' 
says  a  first-class  judge  in  matters  of  the  kind,  'we  could 
never  have  worked  out  into  practical  and  profitable  forms 
the  conceptions  of  those  master-minds  who,  during  the 
past  half-century,  have  so  successfully  pioneered  the  way 
for  mankind.  The  steam-engine  itself,  which  supplies  us 
with  such  unbounded  power,  owes  its  present  perfection 
to  this  most  admirable  means  of  giving  to  metallic  objects 
the  most  precise  and  perfect  geometrical  forms.  How 
could  we,  for  instance,  have  good  steam-engines  if  we 
had  not  the  means  of  boring  out  a  true  cylinder,  or 
turning  a  true  piston-rod,  or  planing  a  valve-face  ? ' 

It  would  perhaps  be  impossible  to  cite  any  more 
authoritative  estimate  of  Maudsley's  invention  than  the 
above.  The  words  placed  between  inverted  commas  are 
the  words  of  James  Nasmyth,  the  inventor  of  that  wonder- 
ful steam-hammer  which  Professor  Tomlinson  characterises 
as  'one  of  the  most  perfect  of  artificial  machines  and 
noblest  triumphs  of  mind  over  matter  that  modern  English 
engineers  have  yet  developed.' 

This  machine  enlarged  at  one  bound  the  whole  scale 
of  working  in  iron,  and  permitted  Maudsley's  lathe  to 
develop  its  entire  range  of  capacity.  The  old  '  tilt- 
hammer  '  was  so  constructed  that  the  more  voluminous 
the  material  submitted  to  it,  the  less  was  the  power  attain- 
able;   so  that  as  soon  as  certain  dimensions  had  been 


Nasmyth's  Steam-hammer. 


20  IRON    AND    STEEL. 

exceeded,  the  hammer  became  utterly  useless.  When  the 
Great  Western  steamship  was  in  course  of  construction, 
tenders  were  invited  from  the  leading  mechanical  firms  for 
the  supply  of  the  enormous  paddle-shaft  required  for  her 
engines.  But  a  forging  of  the  size  in  question  had  never 
been  executed,  and  no  firm  in  England  would  undertake 
the  contract.  In  this  dilemma,  Mr  Nasmyth  was  applied 
to,  and  the  result  of  his  study  of  the  problem  was  this 
marvellous  steam-hammer — so  powerful  that  it  will  forge 
an  Armstrong  hundred-pounder  as  easily  as  a  farrier  forges 
a  horse-shoe,  and  so  delicately  manageable  that  it  will  crack 
a  nut  without  bruising  its  kernel ! 


BESSEMER      STEEL. 

In  1722,  Reaumur  produced  steel  by  melting  three  parts 
of  cast-iron  with  one  part  of  wrought  iron  (probably  in  a 
crucible)  in  a  common  forge ;  he,  however,  failed  to  pro- 
duce steel  in  this  manner  on  a  working  scale.  This 
process  has  many  points  in  common  with  the  Indian 
Wootz-steel  manufacture. 

As  we  have  seen,  to  Benjamin  Huntsman,  a  Doncaster 
artisan,  belongs  the  credit  of  first  producing  cast-steel 
upon  a  working  scale,  as  he  was  the  first  to  accomplish 
the  entire  fusion  of  converted  bar-iron  (that  is,  blister-steel) 
of  the  required  degree  of  hardness,  in  crucibles  or  clay 
pots,  placed  among  the  coke  of  an  air-furnace.  This 
process  is  still  carried  on  at  Sheffield  and  elsewhere,  and 
is  what  is  generally  known  as  the  crucible  or  pot-steel 
process.  It  was  mainly  supplementary  to  the  cementation 
process,  as  formerly  blister-steel  was  alone  melted  in  the 
crucibles;  but  latterly,  and  at  the  present  time,  the 
crucible   mode   of  manufacture   embraces   the   fusion    of 


BESSEMER    STEEL.  2  1 

other  varieties  and  combinations  of  metal,  producing 
accordingly  different  classes  and  qualities  of  steel. 

In  1839,  Josiah  Marshall  Heath  patented  the  important 
application  of  carburet  of  manganese  to  steel  in  the 
crucible,  which  application  imparted  to  the  resulting 
product  the  properties  of  varying  temper  and  increased 
forgeability.  He  subsequently  found  out  that  a  separate 
operation  was  not  necessary  to  form  the  carburet — which 
is  produced  by  heating  peroxide  of  manganese  and  carbon 
to  a  high  temperature — but  that  the  same  result  could  be 
attained  by  simply  in  the  first  instance  adding  the  carbon 
and  oxide  of  manganese  direct  to  the  metal  in  the  crucible. 
He  unsuspectingly  communicated  this  after-discovery  to 
his  agent — by  name  Unwin — who  took  advantage  of  the 
fact  that  it  was  not  incorporated  in  the  wording  of  the 
patent,  and  so  was  unprotected,  to  make  use  of  it  for 
his  own  advantage.  The  result  was  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  patent  trials  on  record,  extending  over  twelve 
years,  and  terminating  in  1855  against  the  patentee — a 
remarkable  instance  of  the  triumph  of  legal  technicalities 
over  the  moral  sense  of  right. 

A  very  important  development  of  the  manufacture  of 
steel  followed  the  introduction  of  the  '  Bessemer  process,' 
by  means  of  which  a  low  carbon  or  mild  cast-steel  can  be 
produced  at  about  one-tenth  of  the  cost  of  crucible  steel. 
It  is  used  for  rails,  for  the  tires  of  the  wheels  of  railway 
carriages,  for  ship-plates,  boiler-plates,  for  shafting,  and  a 
multitude  of  constructional  and  other  purposes  to  which 
only  wrought  iron  was  formerly  applied,  besides  many  for 
which  no  metal  at  all  was  used. 

Sir  Henry  Bessemer's  process  for  making  steel,  which 
is  now  so  largely  practised  in  England,  on  the  continent 
of  Europe,  and  in  America,  was  patented  in  1856.  It  was 
first  applied  to  the  making  of  malleable  iron,  but  this  has 
never  been  successfully  made  by  the  Bessemer  method. 


2  2  IRON    AND    STEEL. 

For  the  manufacture   of  a  cheap  but  highly  serviceable 
steel,  however,  its  success  has  been  so  splendid  that  no 
other  metallurgical  process  has  given  its  inventor  so  great 
a  renown.     Although  the  apparatus  actually  used  is  some- 
what costly  and  elaborate,  yet  the  principle  of  the  opera- 
tion   is   very    simple.      A    large    converting   vessel,    with 
openings  called  tuyeres  in  its  bottom,  is  partially  filled  up 
with  from  5  to   10  tons  of  molten  pig-iron,  and  a  blast  of 
air,  at  a  pressure  of  from  18  to  20  lb.  per  square  inch,  is 
forced  through  this  metal  by  a  blowing  engine.     Pig-iron 
contains  from  3  to  5  per  cent,  of  carbon,  and,  if  it  has 
been  smelted  with  charcoal  from   a   pure  ore,  as   is   the 
case  with  Swedish  iron,   the  blast  is  continued   till   only 
from  -25  to  1  per  cent,  of  the  carbon  is  left  in  the  metal, 
that  is  to  say,  steel  is  produced.     Sometimes,  however, 
the  minimum  quantity  of  carbon  is  even  less  than  -25  per 
cent.     In  England,  where  a  less  pure  but  still  expensive 
cast-iron — viz.  haematite  pig — is  used  for  the  production 
of  steel  in  the  ordinary  Bessemer  converter,  the  process 
differs   slightly.      In   this   case   the  whole   of  the   carbon 
is  oxidised  by  the  blast  of  air,  and  the  requisite  quantity 
of  this  element  is  afterwards  restored   to  the  metal   by 
pouring  into  the  converter  a  small  quantity  of  a  peculiar 
kind   of    cast-iron,    called    spiegeleisen,   which    contains    a 
known  quantity  of  carbon.     But  small  quantities  of  man- 
ganese and  silicon   are   also    present   in    Bessemer   steel. 
The   'blow'  lasts  from    20   to   30   minutes.      Steel  made 
from  whatever  kind  of  pig-iron,   either  by  this  or  by  the 
*  basic '  process,  is  not  sufficiently  dense,  at  least  for  most 
purposes,   and   it   is    accordingly  manipulated    under   the 
steam-hammer   and  rolled  into   a  variety  of  forms.     Bes- 
semer  steel   is    employed,    as   we    have    said,    for    heavy 
objects,   as    rails,    tires,   rollers,    boiler-plates,   ship-plates, 
and  for  many   other   purposes   for  which   malleable  iron 
was  formerly  used. 


BESSEMER    STEEL.  23 

Basic  steel  is  now  largely  made  from  inferior  pig-iron, 
such  as  the  Cleveland,  by  the  Thomas-Gilchrist  process 
patented  in  1878.  It  is,  however,  only  a  modification 
of  the  Bessemer  process  to  the  extent  of  substituting  for 
the  siliceous  or  'acid'  lining  generally  used,  a  lime  or 
'basic'  lining  for  the  converter.  Limestone,  preferably 
a  magnesian  limestone  in  some  form,  is  commonly 
employed  for  the  lining.  By  the  use  of  a  basic  lining, 
phosphorus  is  eliminated  towards  the  end  of  the  'blow.' 
Phosphorus  is  a  very  deleterious  substance  in  steel,  and 
is  present,  sometimes  to  the  extent  of  2  per  cent.,  in  pig- 
iron  smelted  from  impure  ore. 

The  four  inventions  of  this  century  which  have  given  the 
greatest  impetus  to  the  manufacture  of  iron  and  steel  were 
— the  introduction  of  the  hot  blast  into  the  blast-furnace 
for  the  production  of  crude  iron,  made  by  J.  B.  Neilson,  of 
the  Glasgow  Gas-works,  in  1827  ;  the  application  of  the 
cold  blast  in  the  Bessemer  converter  which  we  have  just 
described  •  the  production  of  steel  direct  from  the  ore,  by 
Siemens,  in  the  open  hearth  ;  and  the  discovery  of  a  basic 
lining  by  which  phosphorus  is  eliminated  and  all  kinds  of 
iron  converted  into  steel.  This  last  was  the  discovery  of 
G.  J.  Snelus,  of  London,  and  it  was  made  a  practical 
success  by  the  Thomas  &  Gilchrist  process  just  described. 
In  1883,  Mr  Snelus  was  awarded  the  Bessemer  gold  medal 
of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute  '  as  the  first  man  who  made 
pure  steel  from  impure  iron  in  a  Bessemer  converter  lined 
with  basic  materials.' 


SIR    HENRY    BESSEMER. 


Sir  Henry  Bessemer,  the  inventor  of  the  modern 
process  of  making  steel  from  iron,  which  has  just 
been    described,    was    the    son    of    Anthony    Bessemer, 


24  IRON    AND    STEEL. 

who  escaped  from  France  in  1792,  and  found  employ- 
ment in  the  English  Mint.  He  was  born  in  1813, 
at  Charlton,  Herts,  where  his  father  had  an  estate,  was 
to  a  great  extent  self-taught,  and  his  favourite  amusement 
was  in  modelling  buildings  and  other  objects  in  clay. 
He  came  up  to  London  '  knowing  no  one,  and  no  one 
knowing  me — a  mere  cipher  in  this  vast  sea  of  enterprise.' 
He  first  earned  his  living  by  engraving  a  large  number 
of  elegant  and  original  designs  on  steel  with  a  diamond 
point,  for  patent  medicine  labels.  He  found  work  also 
as  designer  and  modeller.  He  has  been  a  prolific  in- 
ventor, as  the  volumes  issued  by  the  Patent  Office  show. 
It  has  been  said  that  he  has  paid  in  patent  stamp  duties 
alone  as  much  as  ^10,000.  At  twenty  he  invented  a 
mode  of  taking  copies  from  antique  and  modern  basso- 
relievos  in  such  a  way  that  they  might  be  stamped  on 
card-board,  thousands  being  produced  at  a  small  cost. 

His  inventive  faculty  also  devised  a  ready  method 
whereby  those  who  were  defrauding  the  government  by 
detaching  old  stamps  from  leases,  money-bills,  and  agree- 
ments, and  by  using  them  over  again,  could  be  defeated 
in  their  purpose. 

His  first  pecuniary  success  was  obtained  by  his  invention 
of  machinery  for  the  manufacture  of  Bessemer  gold  and 
bronze  powders,  which  was  not  patented,  but  the  nature 
of  which  was  long  kept  secret.  Another  successful  inven- 
tion was  a  machine  for  making  Utrecht  velvet.  He  also 
interested  himself  in  the  manufacture  of  paints,  oils,  and 
varnishes,  sugar,  railway  carriages,  ordnance,  projectiles, 
and  the  ventilation  of  mines.  In  the  Exhibition. of  1851 
he  exhibited  an  ingenious  machine  for  grinding  and 
polishing  plate-glass. 

Like  Lord  Armstrong,  Bessemer  turned  his  attention 
to  the  subject  of  the  improvement  of  projectiles  when 
there  was   a  prospect  of  a  European  war  in  1853.     He 


SIR    HENRY    BESSEMER.  25 

invented  a  mode  of  firing  elongated  projectiles  from 
smooth-bore  guns,  but  received  no  countenance  from 
the  officials  at  Woolwich. 

Commander  Minie,  who  had  charge  of  the  experiments 
which  Bessemer  was  making  on  behalf  of  the  Emperor  of 
the  French,  said  :  'Yes,  the  shots  rotate  properly  ;  but  if  we 
cannot  get  something  stronger  for  our  guns,  these  heavy 
projectiles  will  be  of  little  use.'  This  started  Bessemer 
thinking  and  experimenting  further,  and  led  up,  as  we  will 
see,  to  the  great  industrial  revolution  with  which  his  name 
stands  identified.  He  informed  the  Emperor  that  he 
intended  to  study  the  whole  subject  of  metals  suitable  for 
artillery  purposes.  He  built  experimental  works  at  St 
Pancras,  but  made  many  failures,  furnace  after  furnace 
being  pulled  down  and  rebuilt.  His  prolonged  and  expen- 
sive experiments  in  getting  a  suitable  ordnance  metal  were 
meanwhile  using  up  his  capital ;  but  he  was  on  the  eve  of 
a  great  discovery,  and  began  to  see  that  the  refinement  of 
iron  might  go  on  until  pure  malleable  iron  or  steel  could 
be  obtained.  His  wife  aided  and  encouraged  him  at  this 
time  as  only  a  true  wife  can.  After  a  year  and  a  half,  in 
which  he  patented  many  improvements  in  the  existing 
systems  of  manufacture,  it  occurred  to  him  to  introduce  a 
blast  of  atmospheric  air  into  the  fluid  metal,  whereby  the 
cast-iron  might  be  made  malleable.  He  found  that  by 
blowing  air  through  crude  iron  in  a  fluid  state,  it  could 
thus  be  rendered  malleable.  He  next  tried  the  method  of 
having  the  air  blown  from  below  by  means  of  an  air- 
engine.  Molten  iron  being  poured  into  the  vessel,  and 
air  being  forced  in  from  below,  resulted  in  a  surprising 
combustion,  and  the  iron  in  the  vessel  was  transformed 
into  steel.  The  introduction  of  oxygen  through  the  fluid 
iron,  induced  a  higher  heat,  and  burned  up  the  impurities. 
Feeling  that  he  had  succeeded  in  his  experiment,  he 
acquainted    Mr   George    Rennie   with    the   result.      The 


26  IRON    AND    STEEL. 

latter  said  to  him  :  '  This  must  not  be  hid  under  a  bushel. 
The  British  Association  meets  next  week  at  Cheltenham ; 
if  you  have  patented  your  invention,  draw  up  an  account 
of  it  in  a  paper,  and  have  it  read  in  Section  G.'  Accord- 
ingly Bessemer  wrote  an  account  of  his  process,  and  in 
August  1856,  he  read  his  paper  before  the  British  Asso- 
ciation '  On  the  Manufacture  of  Malleable  Iron  and 
Steel  without  Fuel,'  which  startled  the  iron  trade  of  the 
country. 

On  the  morning  of  the  day  on  which  his  paper  was  to 
be  read,  Bessemer  was  sitting  at  breakfast  in  his  hotel, 
when  an  iron-master  to  whom  he  was  unknown,  laughingly 
said  to  a  friend  :  '  Do  you  know  that  there  is  somebody 
come  down  from  London  to  read  us  a  paper  on  maki?ig 
steel  from  cast-iron  without  fuel  ?  Did  you  ever  hear  of 
such  nonsense  ?' 

Amongst  those  who  spoke  generously  and  enthusias- 
tically of  Bessemer's  new  process  was  James  Nasmyth,  to 
whom  the  inventor  offered  one-third  share  of  the  value 
of  the  patent,  which  would  have  been  another  fortune  to 
him.  Nasmyth  had  made  money  enough  by  this  time, 
however,  and  declined. 

In  a  communication  to  Nasmyth,  Sir  Henry  Bessemer 
thanked  him  for  his  early  patronage,  and  described 
his  discovery :  '  I  shall  ever  feel  grateful  for  the 
noble  way  in  which  you  spoke  at  the  meeting  at 
Cheltenham  of  my  invention.  If  I  remember  rightly, 
you  held  up  a  piece  of  malleable  iron,  saying  words 
to  this  effect :  "  Here  is  a  true  British  nugget  J  Here 
is  a  new  process  that  promises  to  put  an  end  to  all 
puddling  ;  and  I  may  mention  that  at  this  moment  there 
are  puddling-furnaces  in  successful  operation  where  my 
patent  hollow  steam-rabbler  is  at  work,  producing  iron  of 
superior  quality  by  the  introduction  of  jets  of  steam  in 
the  puddling  process.     I  do  not,  however,  lay  any  claim 


SIR    HENRY    BESSEMER.  27 

to  this  invention  of  Mr  Bessemer ;  but  I  may  fairly  be 
entitled  to  say  that  I  have  advanced  along  the  roads  on 
which  he  has  travelled  so  many  miles,  and  has  effected 
such  unexpected  results,  that  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that 
I  may  go  home  from  this  meeting  and  tear  up  my  patent, 
for  my  process  of  puddling  is  assuredly  superseded." ' 

After  giving  an  account  of  his  failures,  as  well  as 
successes,  Sir  Henry  proceeded  to  say:  'I  prepared  to 
try  another  experiment,  in  a  crucible  having  no  hole  in 
the  bottom,  but  which  was  provided  with  an  iron  pipe  put 
through  a  hole  in  the  cover,  and  passing  down  nearly  to 
the  bottom  of  the  crucible.  The  small  lumps  and  grains 
of  iron  were  packed  round  it,  so  as  nearly  to  fill  the 
crucible.  A  blast  of  air  was  to  be  forced  down  the  pipe 
so  as  to  rise  up  among  the  pieces  of  granular  iron,  and 
partly  decarburise  them.  The  pipe  could  then  be  with- 
drawn, and  the  fire  urged  until  the  metal  with  its  coat  of 
oxide  was  fused,  and  cast-steel  thereby  produced. 

'While  the  blowing  apparatus  for  this  experiment  was 
being  fitted  up,  I  was  taken  with  one  of  those  short  but 
painful  illnesses  to  which  I  was  subject  at  that  time.  I 
was  confined  to  my  bed,  and  it  was  then  that  my  mind, 
dwelling  for  hours  together  on  the  experiment  about  to  be 
made,  suggested  that  instead  of  trying  to  decarburise  the 
granulated  metal  by  forcing  the  air  down  the  vertical 
pipe  among  the  pieces  of  iron,  the  air  would  act  much 
more  energetically  and  more  rapidly  if  I  first  melted  the 
iron  in  the  crucible,  and  forced  the  air  down  the  pipe  below 
the  surface  of  the  fluid  metal,  and  thus  burnt  out  the  carbon 
and  silicum  which  it  contained. 

1  This  appeared  so  feasible,  and  in  every  way  so  great 
an  improvement,  that  the  experiment  on  the  granular 
pieces  was  at  once  abandoned,  and  as  soon  as  I  was 
well  enough,  I  proceeded  to  try  the  experiment  of  forcing 
the  air  under  the  fluid  metal.     The  result  was  marvellous. 


28 


IRON    AND    STEEL. 


Complete  decarburation  was  effected  in  half  an  hour. 
The  heat  produced  was  immense,  but  unfortunately  more 
than  half  the  metal  was  blown  out  of  the  pot.  This  led 
to  the  use  of  pots  with  large,  hollow,  perforated  covers, 
which  effectually  prevented  the  loss  of  metal.  These 
experiments  continued  from  January  to  October  1855. 
I  have  by  me  on  the  mantelpiece  at  this  moment,  a  small 


Bessemer  Converting  Vessel  : 
a,  a,  a,  tuyeres ;  b,  air-space  ;  c,  melted  metal. 


piece  of  rolled  bar-iron   which  was  rolled   at  Woolwich 
Arsenal,  and  exhibited  a  year  later  at  Cheltenham. 

'  I  then  applied  for  a  patent,  but  before  preparing  my 
provisional  specification  (dated  October  17,  1855),  I 
searched  for  other  patents  to  ascertain  whether  anything 
of  the  sort  had  been  done  before.     I  then  found  your 


SIR    HENRY    BESSEMER.  29 

patent  for  puddling  with  the  steam-rabble,  and  also 
Martin's  patent  for  the  use  of  steam  in  gutters  while 
molten  iron  was  being  conveyed  from  the  blast-furnace 
to  a  finery,  there  to  be  refined  in  the  ordinary  way  prior 
to  puddling. 

Several  leading  men  in  the  iron  trade  took  licenses  for 
the  new  manufacture,  which  brought  Bessemer  ^2  7,000 
within  thirty  days  of  the  time  of  reading  his  paper.  These 
licenses  he  afterwards  bought  back  for  ^£3 1,000,  giving 
fresh  ones  in  their  stead.  Some  of  the  early  experiments 
failed,  and  it  was  feared  the  new  method  would  prove 
impracticable.  These  experiments  failed  because  of  the 
presence  of  phosphorus  in  the  iron.  But  Bessemer 
worked  steadily  in  order  to  remove  the  difficulties  which 
had  arisen,  and  a  chemical  laboratory  was  added  to  his 
establishment,  with  a  professor  of  chemistry  attached. 
Success  awaited  him.  The  new  method  of  steel-making 
spread  into  France  and  Sweden,  and  in  1879  the  works  for 
making  Bessemer  steel  were  eighty-four  in  number,  and 
represented  a  capital  of  more  than  three  millions.  His 
process  for  the  manufacture  of  steel  raised  the  annual 
production  of  steel  in  England  from  50,000  tons  by  the 
older  processes  to  as  many  as  2,000,000  tons  in  some 
years.  It  was  next  used  for  boiler-plates;  shipbuilding 
with  Bessemer  steel  was  begun  in  1862,  and  now  it  is 
employed  for  most  of  the  purposes  for  which  malleable 
iron  was  formerly  used.  The  production  of  Europe  and 
America  in  1892  was  over  10,000,000  tons,  of  a  probable 
value  of  ^84,000,000,  sufficient,  as  has  been  remarked,  to 
make  a  solid  steel  wall  round  London  40  feet  high,  and 
and  5  feet  thick.  It  would  take,  according  to  the  in- 
ventor, two  or  three  years'  production  of  all  the  gold-mines 
in  the  world  to  pay  in  gold  for  the  output  of  Bessemer 
steel  for  one  year.  The  price  of  steel  previous  to  Hunts- 
man's process  was  about  ;£i 0,000  per  ton;    after  him, 


SIR    CHARLES    WILLIAM    SIEMENS.  3 1 

from  ^"50  to  ^100.  Now  Bessemer  leaves  it  at  £$  to 
£6  per  ton.  And  a  process  which  occupied  ten  days  can 
be  accomplished  within  half  an  hour. 

In  his  sketch  of  the  '  Bessemer  Steel  Industry,  Past  and 
Present'  (1894),  Sir  Henry  Bessemer  says:  'It  is  this 
new  material,  so  much  stronger  and  tougher  than  common 
iron,  that  now  builds  our  ships  of  war  and  our  mercantile 
marine.  Steel  forms  their  boilers,  their  propeller  shafts, 
their  hulls,  their  masts  and  spars,  their  standing  rigging, 
their  cable  chains  and  anchors,  and  also  their  guns 
and  armour-plating.  This  new  material  has  covered  with 
a  network  of  steel  rails  the  surface  of  every  country  in 
Europe,  and  in  America  alone  there  are  no  less  than 
175,000  miles  of  Bessemer  steel  rails.'  These  steel  rails 
last  six  times  longer  than  if  laid  of  iron. 

Bessemer  was  knighted  in  1879,  and  has  received  many 
gold  medals  from  scientific  institutions.  In  addition  he 
has,  to  use  his  own  words,  received  in  the  form  of 
royalties  1,057,748  of  the  beautiful  little  gold  medals 
(sovereigns)  issued  by  her  Majesty's  Mint.  The  method 
chosen  by  the  Americans  to  perpetuate  his  name  has  been 
the  founding  of  the  growing  centre  of  industry  called 
Bessemer  in  Indiana,  while  Bessemer,  in  Pennsylvania, 
is  the  seat  of  the  great  Edgar  Thompson  steel-works. 
Thus  the  man  who  was  at  first  neglected  by  government 
has  become  wealthy  beyond  the  dreams  of  avarice,  and 
his  name  is  immortal  in  the  annals  of  our  manufacturing 
industry. 


SIR    CHARLES    WILLIAM    SIEMENS    AND    THE    SIEMENS 
PROCESS. 

Another  pioneer  in  the  manufacture  of  steel  and 
iron  was  Charles  William  Siemens,  the  seventh  child 
of  a  German  landowner,  who  was  born  at  Lenthe,  near 


32  IRON    AND    STEEL. 

Hanover,  4th  April  1823.  He  showed  an  affectionate 
and  sensitive  disposition  while  very  young,  and  a  strong 
faculty  of  observation.  He  received  a  good  plain  educa- 
tion at  Liibeck,  and  in  deference  to  his  brother  Werner  he 
agreed  to  become  an  engineer,  and  accordingly  was  sent 
to  an  industrial  school  at  Magdeburg  in  1838,  where  he 
also  learned  languages,  including  English ;  mathematics 
he  learned  from  his  interested  brother.  He  left  Magde- 
burg in  1 84 1  in  order  to  increase  his  scientific  knowledge 
at  Gottingen,  and  there  he  studied  chemistry  and  physics, 
with  the  view  of  becoming  an  engineer.  Werner,  his  elder 
brother,  was  still  his  good  genius,  and  after  the  death  of 
their  parents  counselled  and  encouraged  him,  and  looked 
upon  him  as  a  probable  future  colleague.  They  corre- 
sponded with  one  another,  not  only  about  family  affairs, 
but  also  about  the  scientific  and  technical  subjects  in 
which  both  were  engrossed.  This  became  a  life-long 
habit  with  the  brothers  Siemens.  One  early  letter  from 
William  described  a  new  kind  of  valve-gearing  which  he 
had  invented  for  Cornish  steam-engines.  Then  the  germ 
of  the  idea  of  what  was  afterwards  known  as  the  '  chrono- 
metric  governor '  for  steam-engines  was  likewise  com- 
municated in  this  way.  Mr  Pole  says  that  his  early 
letters  were  significant  of  the  talent  and  capacity  of  the 
writer.  '  They  evince  an  acuteness  of  perception  in 
mechanical  matters,  a  power  of  close  and  correct  reason- 
ing, a  sound  judgment,  a  fertility  of  invention,  and  an  ease 
and  accuracy  of  expression  which,  in  a  youth  of  nineteen, 
who  had  only  a  few  months'  experience  in  a  workshop,  are 
extraordinary,  and  undoubtedly  shadow  forth  the  brilliant 
future  he  attained  in  the  engineering  world.' 

Werner  in  1841  had  taken  out  a  patent  for  his  method 
of  electro-gilding,  while  William  early  in  1843  paid  his 
first  visit  to  England,  travelling  by  way  of  Hamburg.  He 
took  up  his  abode  in  a  little  inn  called  the  'Ship  and 


SIR    CHARLES    WILLIAM    SIEMENS.  33 

Star,'  at  Sparrow  Corner,  near  the  Minories.  In  an  address 
as  President  of  the  Midland  Institute,  Birmingham,  on  28th 
October  1881,  he  related  his  first  experiences  in  England, 
and  how  he  secured  his  first  success  there. 

Mr  Siemens  said  :  '  That  form  of  energy  known  as  the 
electric  current  was  nothing  more  than  the  philosopher's 
delight  forty  years  ago  ;  its  first  application  may  be  traced 
to  this  good  town  of  Birmingham,  where  Mr  George 
Richards  Elkington,  utilising  the  discoveries  of  Davy, 
Faraday,  and  Jacobi,  had  established  a  practical  process 
of  electroplating  in  1842.  .  .  .  Although  I  was  only  a 
young  student  of  Gottingen,  under  twenty  years  of  age, 
who  had  just  entered  upon  his  practical  career  with  a 
mechanical  engineer,  I  joined  my  brother  Werner  Siemens, 
then  a  young  lieutenant  of  artillery  in  the  Prussian  service, 
in  his  endeavour  to  accomplish  electro-gilding.  ...  I  tore 
myself  away  from  the  narrow  circumstances  surrounding 
me,  and  landed  at  the  East  End  of  London,  with  only  a 
few  pounds  in  my  pocket  and  without  friends,  but  an 
ardent  confidence  of  ultimate  success  within  my  breast. 

*  I  expected  to  find  some  office  in  which  inventions 
were  examined  into,  and  rewarded  if  found  meritorious, 
but  no  one  could  direct  me  to  such  a  place.  In  walking 
along  Finsbury  Pavement  I  saw  written  up  in  large  letters, 
"So-and-So" — I  forget  the  name — "undertaker,"  and  the 
thought  struck  me  that  this  must  be  the  place  I  was  in 
quest  of;  at  any  rate,  I  thought  that  a  person  advertising 
himself  as  an  "undertaker"  would  not  refuse  to  look  into 
my  invention,  with  the  view  of  obtaining  for  me  the  sought 
for  recognition  or  reward.  On  entering  the  place  I  soon 
convinced  myself,  however,  that  I  came  decidedly  too  soon 
for  the  kind  of  enterprise  there  contemplated.'  By  dint  of 
perseverance,  however,  Siemens  secured  a  letter  from 
Messrs  Poole  and  Carpmaell,  of  the  Patent  Office,  to  Mr 
Elkington    of    Birmingham.      Elkington    and    his   partner 

c 


34  IRON    AND    STEEL. 

Tosiah  Mason  both  met  the  young  inventor  in  such  a  spirit 
of  fairness  that,  as  he  says,  he  returned  to  his  native 
country,  and  to  his  mechanical  engineering,  'a  compara- 
tive Croesus.'  After  the  lapse  of  forty  years  his  heart 
still  beat  quick  when  thinking  of  this  determining  incident 
in  his  career. 

The  sum  which  Elkington  paid  him  for  his  'thermo- 
electrical  battery'  for  depositing  solutions  of  gold,  silver, 
and  copper  was  ^1600,  less  ^110  for  the  cost  of  the 
patent.  Although  quite  successful  at  the  time,  other  and 
cheaper  processes  speedily  supplanted  it;  but  the  young 
German  had  gained  a  footing  and  the  money  he  needed 
for  future  experiments.  When  he  came  back  to  Germany 
he  was  looked  upon  as  quite  a  hero  by  his  admiring  family 
circle.  It  was  indeed  a  creditable  exploit  for  a  youth  of 
twenty.  When  he  returned  to  England  again  in  February 
1844,  ne  received  so  much  encouragement  from  leading 
engineers  and  scientific  men  for  his  '  chronometric 
governor,'  that  he  decided  to  settle  permanently  there,  and 
he  became  a  naturalised  British  subject  in  1859.  He 
joined  with  a  civil  engineer,  named  Joseph  Woods,  for  the 
promotion  and  sale  of  his  patents.  'Anastatic  printing' 
was  one  of  his  early  inventions,  which,  however,  never 
became  profitable.  Then  came  schemes  in  paper-making, 
new  methods  of  propelling  ships,  winged  rockets,  and 
locomotives  on  new  principles,  all  of  which  were  a  con- 
tinual drain  on  his  own  and  his  friends'  resources  without 
a  corresponding  return,  so  that  in  1845  he  took  a  situation 
and  earned  some  money  by  railway  work,  which  enabled 
him  to  pay  another  visit  to  Germany.  In  1846,  undaunted 
by  previous  failures,  he  threw  himself  heartily  into  the 
study  of  the  action  of  heat  as  a  power-giving  agent,  and  in- 
vented an  arrangement  known  as  the  '  regenerator'  for  saving 
certain  portions  of  this  waste.  As  afterwards  applied  to 
furnaces  for  iron,  steel,  zinc,  glass,  and  other  works,  it  was 


SIR    CHARLES    WILLIAM    SIEMENS.  35 

pronounced  by  Sir  Henry  Bessemer  a  beautiful  inven- 
tion, at  once  the  most  philosophic  in  principle,  the  most 
powerful  in  action,  and  the  most  economic  of  all  the  con- 
trivances for  producing  heat  by  the  combustion  of  coal. 
He  now  secured  an  appointment  in  1849  with  Fox  & 
Henderson,  Birmingham,  at  a  fixed  salary  of  ^"400  a 
year,  and  his  interest  in  his  patent.  Here  he  profited 
largely  by  the  experience  gained,  but  the  engagement 
terminated  in  1851,  when  he  afterwards  settled  as  a 
civil  engineer  in  7  John  Street,  Adelphi,  in  March 
1852. 

His  next  great  achievement  was  the  production  of  steel 
direct  from  the  raw  ores  by  means  of  his  regenerative 
furnace,  which  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade  in 
1883  mentioned  in  the  House  of  Commons  as  one  of  the 
most  valuable  inventions  ever  produced  under  the  protec- 
tion of  the  English  patent  law,  and  he  said  further  that  it 
was  then  being  used  in  almost  every  industry  in  the  king- 
dom. Siemens  had  spent  fourteen  years  in  perfecting  this 
regenerative  furnace,  and  it  took  him  other  fourteen  to 
utilise  it,  and  perfect  it  in  making  steel  direct  from  the  raw 
ores.  Martin  of  Sireil,  who  made  one  or  two  additions  to 
the  Siemens  steel  furnace,  has  been  termed  its  inventor, 
but  this  claim  has  no  foundation.  What  is  known,  how- 
ever, as  the  *  Siemens-Martin  process '  is  now  competing 
very  effectively  with  the  Bessemer  process.  It  consists 
essentially  in  first  obtaining  a  bath  of  melted  pig-iron  of 
high  quality,  and  then  adding  to  this  pieces  of  wrought- 
iron  scrap  or  Bessemer  scrap,  such  as  crop  ends  of  rails, 
shearings  of  plates,  &c.  These,  though  practically  non-in- 
fusible in  large  quantities  by  themselves,  become  dissolved 
or  fused  in  such  a  bath  if  added  gradually.  To  the  bath 
of  molten  metal  thus  obtained  spiegeleisen  or  ferro-man- 
ganese  is  added  to  supply  the  required  carbon  and  to 
otherwise  act  as  in  the  Bessemer  converter.     The   result 


36  IRON    AND    STEEL. 

is  tested  by  small  ladle  samples,  and  when  it  is  of  the 
desired  quality  a  portion  is  run  off,  leaving  sufficient  bath 
for  the  continuation  of  the  process. 

Siemens  took  out  his  patent  for  the  '  open  hearth '  pro- 
cess of  steel-making  (the  Forth  Bridge  is  built  of  steel 
made  in  this  way)  in  1861,  and  four  years  later  erected 
sample  steel  works  at  Birmingham.  The  engineer  of  the 
London  and  North-Western  Railway  adopted  his  system 
at  Crewe  in  1868,  and  the  Great  Western  Railway  works 
followed.  In  1869  this  process  was  being  carried  out  on 
a  large  scale  at  the  works  of  the  Landore-Siemens  Steel 
Company  and  elsewhere  in  England,  as  well  as  at 
various  works  on  the  Continent,  including  Krupp's,  at 
Essen. 

In  1862,  Siemens  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal 
Society,  and  in  1874  was  presented  with  the  Royal  Albert 
Medal,  and  in  1875  with  the  Bessemer  Medal  in  recogni- 
tion of  his  researches  and  inventions  in  heat  and  metallurgy. 
He  filled  the  president's  chair  in  the  three  principal  engin- 
eering and  telegraphic  societies  of  Great  Britain,  and  in 
1882  was  President  of  the  British  Association.  As  manager 
in  England  of  the  firm  of  Siemens  Brothers,  Sir  William 
Siemens  was  actively  engaged  in  the  construction  of  over- 
land and  submarine  telegraphs.  The  steamship  Faraday 
was  specially  designed  by  him  for  cable-laying.  In  addi- 
tion to  his  labours  in  connection  with  electric-lighting,  Sir 
William  Siemens  also  successfully  applied,  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Portrush  Electric  Tramway,  which  was  opened 
in  1883,  electricity  to  the  production  of  locomotion.  In 
his  regenerative  furnace,  as  we  have  seen,  he  utilised  in  an 
ingenious  way  the  heat  which  would  otherwise  have 
escaped  with  the  products  of  combustion.  The  process 
was  subsequently  applied  in  many  industrial  processes, 
but  notably  by  Siemens  himself  in  the  manufacture  of 
steel. 


SIR    CHARLES    WILLIAM    SIEMENS.  37 

The  other  inventions  and  researches  of  this  wonderful 
man  include  a  water-meter ;  a  thermometer  or  pyrometer, 
which  measures  by  the  change  produced  in  the  electric 
conductivity  of  metals ;  the  bathometer,  for  measuring 
ocean  depths  by  variations  in  the  attraction  exerted  on  a 
delicately  suspended  body ;  and  the  hastening  of  vegetable 
growth  by  use  of  the  electric  light.  He  was  knighted  in 
April  1883,  and  died  on  November  19  of  the  same  year. 
There  is  a  memorial  window  to  his  memory  in  Westminster 
Abbey. 

As  the  elder  brother  of  Sir  William  Siemens  was  so 
closely  connected  with  him  in  business  life,  and  may  be 
said  to  have  encouraged  and  led  him  into  the  walk  of  life 
in  which  he  excelled,  he  also  deserves  a  notice  here. 
Werner  von  Siemens,  engineer  and  electrician,  was 
born  December  13,  18 16,  at  Lenthe  in  Hanover.  In 
1834  he  entered  the  Prussian  Artillery ;  and  in  1844  was 
put  in  charge  of  the  artillery  workshops  at  Berlin.  He 
early  showed  scientific  tastes,  and  in  1841  took  out  his 
first  patent  for  galvanic  silver  and  gold  plating.  By  selling 
the  right  of  using  his  process  he  made  40  louis  d'or, 
which  supplied  him  with  the  means  for  further  experiments. 
During  the  Schleswig-Holstein  war,  he  attracted  consider- 
able attention  by  using  electricity  for  the  firing  of  the 
mines  which  had  been  laid  for  the  defence  of  Kiel 
harbour.  He  was  of  peculiar  service  in  developing  the 
telegraphic  service  in  Prussia,  and  discovered  in  this  con- 
nection the  valuable  insulating  property  of  gutta-percha  for 
underground  and  submarine  cables.  In  1849  he  left  the 
army,  and  shortly  after  the  service  of  the  state  altogether, 
and  devoted  his  energies  to  the  construction  of  telegraphic 
and  electrical  apparatus  of  all  kinds.  The  well-known 
firm  of  Siemens  and  Halske  was  established  in  1847  in 
Berlin,  and  to  them  the  Russian  government  entrusted  the 
construction  of  the  telegraph  lines  in  that  country.     Sub- 


38  IRON    AND    STEEL. 

sequently  branches  were  formed,  chiefly  under  the  manage- 
ment of  the  younger  brothers  of  Werner  Siemens,  in  St 
Petersburg  (1857),  in  London  (1858),  in  Vienna  (1858), 
and  in  Tiflis  (1863).  In  1857,  Siemens  accomplished  the 
remarkable  feat  of  successfully  laying  a  cable  in  deep 
water,  at  a  depth  of  more  than  1000  fathoms.  This  was 
between  Sardinia  and  Bona.  Shortly  after  he  superin- 
tended the  laying  of  cables  in  the  Red  Sea;  and  these 
successful  experiments  soon  led  to  the  greatest  undertaking 
of  all,  the  connection  of  America  with  Europe.  Besides 
devising  numerous  useful  forms  of  galvanometers  and 
other  electrical  instruments  of  precision,  Werner  Siemens 
was  one  of  the  discoverers  of  the  principle  of  the  self- 
acting  dynamo.  He  also  made  valuable  determinations 
of  the  electrical  resistance  of  different  substances,  the 
resistance  of  a  column  of  mercury,  one  metre  long,  and 
one  square  millimetre  cross  section  at  o°C,  being  known 
as  the  Siemens  Unit.  His  numerous  scientific  and  tech- 
nical papers,  written  for  the  various  journals,  were  re- 
published in  collected  form  in  188 1.  In  1886  he  gave 
500,000  marks  for  the  founding  of  an  imperial  institute  of 
technology  and  physics;  and  in  1888  he  was  ennobled. 
He  died  at  Berlin,  6th  December  1892.  A  translation 
of  his  Personal  Recollections  by  Coupland  appeared  in 
1893. 

Space  forbids  us  mentioning  other  worthy  names  in  the 
steel  and  iron  trade,  although  we  cannot  pass  by  Sir  John 
Brown,  founder  of  the  Atlas  Steel-works,  Sheffield  (1857), 
and  one  of  the  first  to  adopt  the  Bessemer  process.  He 
was  also  the  pioneer  of  armour-plate  making.  The 
immense  strides  he  made  in  business  may  be  judged  from 
the  fact  that  when  he  started  in  1857  his  employees 
numbered  200,  with  a  turnover  of  ^3000  a  year;  in  1867 
they  numbered  4000,  and  the  turnover  was  ^1,000,000. 


KRUPP S    IRON    AND    STEEL    WORKS    AT    ESSEN.  39 

The  weekly  pay  roll  amounted  to  ^7000  in  1883,  and 
when  he  handed  over  the  business  to  his  successors,  he 
was  paid  ^200,000  for  the  goodwill. 


KRUPP'S    IRON    AND    STEEL    WORKS    AT    ESSEN. 

One  of  the  largest  iron  and  steel  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments in  the  world  is  that  founded  by  the  late  Alfred 
Krupp,  the  famous  German  cannon-founder,  whose  name 
is  so  well  known  in  connection  with  modern  improvements 
in  artillery.  His  principal  works  are  situated  at  Essen,  in 
Prussia,  in  the  midst  of  a  district  productive  of  both  iron 
and  coal.  The  town  of  Essen,  which  at  the  beginning  of 
the  present  century  contained  less  than  four  thousand 
inhabitants,  has  become  an  important  industrial  centre, 
with  a  population  of  nearly  eighty  thousand  persons,  this 
increase  being  chiefly  due  to  the  growth  of  the  ironworks, 
and  the  consequent  demand  for  labour.  In  the  vicinity  of 
the  town,  numerous  coal  and  iron  mines,  many  of  which 
are  owned  by  the  Krupp  firm,  are  in  active  working,  and 
furnish  employment  to  the  large  population  of  the  sur- 
rounding district.  Much  of  the  output  of  iron  ore  and 
coal  from  these  mines  is  destined  for  consumption  in  the 
vast  Krupp  works  within  the  town.  Those  works  had 
their  origin  in  a  small  iron  forge  established  at  Essen  in 
the  year  1810  by  Frederick  Krupp,  the  father  of  Alfred 
Krupp.  The  elder  Krupp  was  not  prosperous ;  and  a 
lawsuit  in  which  he  became  involved,  and  which  lasted 
for  ten  years,  though  finally  decided  in  his  favour,  reduced 
him  nearly  to  bankruptcy.  He  died  in  1826,  in  impover- 
ished circumstances,  leaving  a  widow  and  three  sons,  the 
eldest  of  whom  was  Alfred,  aged  fourteen.  The  business 
was  continued  by  the  widow,  who  managed,  though  with 
difficulty,  to  procure  a  good  education  for  her  sons.    When 


4-0  IRON    AND    STEEL. 

the  eldest,  Alfred,  took  control  of  the  works  in  1848,  he 
found  there,  as  he  himself  has  described,  '  three  workmen, 
and  more  debts  than  fortune.' 

Krupp's  subsequent  career  affords  a  remarkable  instance 
of  success  attained,  despite  adverse  circumstances,  by 
sheer  force  of  ability  and  energy,  in  building  up  a  colossal 
manufacturing  business  from  a  humble  beginning.  On 
his  death  in  1887  his  only  son  succeeded  him.  At  the 
present  time,  Krupp's  works  within  the  town  of  Essen 
occupy  more  than  five  hundred  acres,  half  of  which  area 
is  under  cover.  In  1895,  the  number  of  persons  in  his 
employ  was  25,300,  and  including  members  of  their  families, 
over  50,000.  Of  the  army  of  workers,  about  17,000  were 
employed  at  the  works  in  Essen,  the  remainder  being 
occupied  in  the  550  iron  and  coal  mines  belonging  to  the 
firm,  or  at  the  branch  works  at  Sayn  Neuwied,  Magdeburg, 
Duisburg,  and  Engers ;  or  in  the  iron-mines  at  Bilbao,  in 
Spain,  which  produce  the  best  ores.  In  Krupp's  Essen 
works  there  are  one  hundred  and  twelve  steam-hammers, 
ranging  in  weight  from  fifty  tons  down  to  four  hundred 
pounds.  There  are  15  Bessemer  converters,  18  Martin- 
furnaces,  420  steam-engines — representing  together  33,150 
horse-power — and  twenty-one  rolling  trains ;  the  daily  con- 
sumption of  coal  and  coke  being  3100  tons  by  1648 
furnaces.  The  average  daily  consumption  of  water,  which 
is  brought  from  the  river  Ruhr  by  an  aqueduct,  is  24,700 
cubic  metres.  The  electric  light  has  been  introduced,  and 
the  work  ceases  entirely  only  on  Sunday  and  two  or  three 
holidays.  Connected  with  the  Essen  works  are  fifty 
miles  of  railway,  employing  thirty-five  locomotives  and 
over  1000  wagons.  There  are  two  chemical  laboratories; 
a  photographic  and  lithographic  studio ;  a  printing-office, 
with  steam  and  hand  presses;  and  a  bookbinding  room, 
besides  tile-works,  coke-works,  gas-works,  &c. 

Though,  in  the  popular  mind,  the  name   of  Krupp  is 


KRUPPS    IRON    AND    STEEL    WORKS    AT    ESSEN.  41 

usually  associated  with  the  manufacture  of  instruments  of 
destruction,  yet  two-thirds  of  the  work  done  in  his  estab- 
lishment is  devoted  to  the  production  of  articles  intended 
for  peaceful  uses.  The  various  parts  of  steam-engines, 
both  stationary  and  locomotive ;  iron  axles,  bridges,  rails, 
wheel-tires,  switches,  springs,  shafts  for  steamers,  mint-dies, 
rudders,  and  parts  of  all  varieties  of  iron  machinery,  are 
prepared  here  for  manufacturers.  The  production  is,  in 
Dominie  Sampson's  phrase,  'prodigious.'  In  one  day  the 
works  can  turn  out  2700  rails,  350  wheel-tires,  150  axles, 
180  railway  wheels,  1000  railway  wedges,  1500  bomb- 
shells. In  a  month  they  have  produced  250  field-pieces, 
thirty  57-inch  cannon,  fifteen  9-33-inch  cannon,  eight 
11-inch  cannon,  one  14-inch  gun,  the  weight  of  the  last 
named  being  over  fifty  tons,  and  its  length  twenty-eight 
feet  seven  inches.  Till  the  end  of  1894  the  firm  has 
produced  25,000  cannon  for  thirty-four  different  states. 

Alfred  Krupp  devoted  much  attention  to  the  production  of 
steel  of  the  finest  quality,  and  was  the  first  German  manu- 
facturer who  succeeded  in  casting  steel  in  large  masses.  In 
1862  he  exhibited  in  London  an  ingot  of  finest  crucible 
steel  weighing  twenty-one  tons.  Its  dimensions  were  nine 
feet  high  by  forty-four  inches  diameter.  The  uniformity  of 
quality  of  this  mass  of  metal  was  proven  by  the  fact  that 
when  broken  across  it  showed  no  seam  or  flaw,  even  when 
examined  with  a  lens.  The  firm  can  now  make  such 
homogeneous  blocks  of  seventy-five  tons  weight  if  required. 
Such  ingots  are  formed  from  the  contents  of  a  great 
number  of  small  crucibles,  each  containing  from  fifty  to 
one  hundred  pounds  of  the  metal.  The  recent  develop- 
ments of  the  manufacture  of  steel  by  the  open-hearth 
process  have  removed  all  difficulty  in  procuring  the  metal 
in  masses  large  enough  for  all  requirements,  and  of  a 
tensile  strength  so  high  as  thirty-three  to  thirty-seven  tons 
to  the  square  inch.     Crucible  steel,  however,  though  more 


42  IRON    AND    STEEL. 

expensive,  still  holds  its  place  as  the  best  and  most 
reliable  that  can  be  produced;  and  nothing  else  is  ever 
used  in  the  construction  of  a  Krupp  gun.  By  the  per- 
fected methods  in  use  at  the  Essen  works,  such  steel  can 
be  made  of  a  tensile  strength  of  nearly  forty  tons  to  the 
square  inch,  and  of  marvellous  uniformity  of  quality.  The 
ores  used  in  the  Krupp  works  for  making  the  best  steel 
are  red  haematite  and  spathic  ore,  with  a  certain  proportion 
of  ferro-manganese.  The  crucibles  employed  are  formed 
of  a  mixture  of  plumbago  and  fire-clay,  shaped  by  a  mould 
into  a  cylindrical  jar  some  eighteen  inches  in  height,  and 
baked  in  a  kiln.  When  in  use,  they  are  filled  with  small 
bars  of  puddled  metal,  mixed  with  fragments  of  marble 
brought  from  Villmar,  on  the  Lahn.  They  are  then 
shovelled  into  large  furnaces,  whose  floors  are  elevated 
three  or  four  feet  above  the  ground-level.  In  the  earthen 
floor  of  the  immense  room  containing  the  furnaces  are  two 
lines  of  pits,  one  set  to  receive  the  molten  metal,  the  other 
intended  for  the  red-hot  crucibles  when  emptied  of  their 
contents.  When  the  crucibles  have  undergone  sufficient 
heating,  the  furnace  doors  are  opened  simultaneously  at  a 
given  signal,  and  the  attendant  workmen  draw  out  the 
crucibles  with  long  tongs,  and  rapidly  empty  them  into 
the  pits  prepared  for  the  reception  of  the  metal.  The 
empty  crucibles  when  cooled  are  examined,  and  if  found 
unbroken,  are  used  again ;  but  if  damaged,  as  is  usually 
the  case,  are  ground  up,  to  be  utilised  in  making  new 
ones. 

The  production  of  steel  by  this  method  furnishes  em- 
ployment for  eight  or  nine  hundred  men  daily  in  the 
Krupp  works.  The  Bessemer  process  for  converting  iron 
into  steel  is  also  largely  used  there  for  making  steel  for 
certain  purposes.  All  material  used  in  the  different 
classes  of  manufactures  is  subjected  at  every  stage  to 
extreme  and  exact  tests;  the  standards  being  fixed  with 


KRUPP'S    IRON    AND    STEEL   WORKS    AT    ESSEN.  43 

reference  to  the  purpose  to  which  the  metal  is  to  be 
applied,  and  any  material  that  proves  faulty  when  suitably 
tested  is  rigorously  rejected. 

The  guns  originally  manufactured  by  the  Krupp  firm 
were  formed  from  solid  ingots  of  steel,  which  were  bored, 
turned,  and  fashioned  as  in  the  case  of  cast-iron  smooth- 
bore cannon.  With  the  development  of  the  power  of 
artillery,  the  greater  strain  caused  by  the  increased 
powder-charges  and  by  the  adoption  of  rifling — involving 
enhanced  friction  between  the  projectile  and  the  bore — 
had  the  result  of  demonstrating  the  weakness  inherent  in 
the  construction  of  a  gun  thus  made  entirely  from  one 
solid  forging,  and  that  plan  was  eventually  discarded. 
Artillerists  have  learnt  that  the  strain  produced  by  an 
explosive  force  operating  in  the  interior  of  a  cannon  is 
not  felt  equally  throughout  the  thickness  of  the  metal  from 
the  bore  to  the  exterior,  but  varies  inversely  as  the  square 
of  the  distance  of  each  portion  of  the  metal  from  the  seat 
of  effort.  For  example,  in  a  gun  cast  solid,  if  two  points 
be  taken,  one  at  the  distance  of  one  inch  from  the  bore, 
and  the  other  four  inches  from  the  bore,  the  metal  at  the 
former  point  will  during  the  explosion  be  strained  sixteen 
times  as  much  as  that  at  the  distance  of  four  inches.  The 
greater  the  thickness  of  the  material,  the  greater  will  be 
the  inequality  between  the  strains  acting  at  the  points 
respectively  nearest  to  and  farthest  from  the  interior. 
The  metal  nearest  the  seat  of  explosion  may  thus  be 
strained  beyond  its  tensile  strength,  while  that  more 
remote  is  in  imperfect  accord  with  it.  In  such  a  case, 
disruption  of  the  metal  at  the  inner  surface  ensues,  and 
extends  successively  through  the  whole  thickness  to  the 
exterior,  thus  entailing  the  destruction  of  the  gun. 

This  source  of  weakness  is  guarded  against  by  the  con- 
struction of  what  is  termed  the  built-up  gun,  in  which  the 
several  parts  tend  to  mutual  support.     This  gun  consists 


44  IRON    AND    STEEL. 

of  an  inner  tube,  encircled  and  compressed  by  a  long 
'jacket'  or  cylinder,  which  is  shrunk  around  the  breech 
portion  with  the  initial  tension  due  to  contraction  in 
cooling.  Over  the  jacket  and  along  the  chase,  other 
hoops  or  cylinders  are  shrunk  on  successively,  in  layers, 
with  sufficient  tension  to  compress  the  parts  enclosed. 
The  number  and  strength  of  these  hoops  are  proportionate 
to  the  known  strain  that  the  bore  of  the  gun  will  have  to 
sustain.  The  tension  at  which  each  part  is  shrunk  on  is 
the  greater  as  the  part  is  farther  removed  from  the  inner 
tube ;  the  jacket,  for  example,  being  shrunk  on  at  less 
tension  than  the  outer  hoops.  The  inner  tube,  on  re- 
ceiving the  expansive  force  of  the  explosion,  is  prevented 
by  the  compression  of  the  jacket  from  being  forced  up  to 
its  elastic  limit ;  and  the  jacket  in  its  turn  is  similarly 
supported  by  the  outer  hoops ;  and  on  the  cessation  of 
the  internal  pressure  the  several  parts  resume  their  normal 
position. 

This  system  of  construction  originated  in  England,  and 
is  now  in  general  use.  The  first  steel  guns  on  this  prin- 
ciple were  those  designed  by  Captain  Blakely  and  Mr  J. 
Vavasseur,  of  the  London  Ordnance  Works.  At  the 
Exhibition  of  1862,  a  Blakely  8-5-inch  gun,  on  the  built- 
up  system,  composed  wholly  of  steel,  was  a  feature  of 
interest  in  the  Ordnance  section.  The  plan  devised  by 
Sir  W.  Armstrong,  and  carried  into  effect  for  a  series  of 
years  at  Woolwich  and  at  the  Armstrong  Works  at  Elswick, 
consisted  in  enclosing  a  tube  of  steel  within  a  jacket  of 
wrought  iron,  formed  by  coiling  a  red-hot  bar  round  a 
mandrel.  The  jacket  was  shrunk  on  with  initial  tension, 
and  was  fortified  in  a  similar  manner  by  outer  hoops 
of  the  same  metal.  The  want  of  homogeneity  in  this  gun 
was,  however,  a  serious  defect,  and  ultimately  led  to  its 
abolition.  The  difference  in  the  elastic  properties  of  the 
two  metals  caused  a  separation,  after  repeated  discharges. 


KRUPP'S    IRON    AND    STEEL    WORKS    AT    ESSEN.  45 

between  the  steel  tube  and  its  jacket,  with  the  result  that 
the  tube  cracked  from  want  of  support.  Both  at  Woolwich 
and  at  Elswick  (described  on  a  later  page),  therefore,  the 
wrought-iron  gun  has  given  place  to  the  homogeneous 
steel  built-up  gun,  which  is  also  the  form  of  construction 
adopted  by  the  chief  powers  of  Europe  and  by  the  United 
States  of  America. 

The  failure  of  some  of  his  solid-cast  guns  led  Krupp, 
about  1865,  to  the  adoption  of  the  built-up  principle. 
With  few  exceptions,  the  inner  tube  of  a  Krupp  gun  is 
forged  out  of  a  single  ingot,  and  in  every  case  without  any 
weld.  The  ingot  destined  to  form  the  tube  has  first  to 
undergo  a  prolonged  forging  under  the  steam-hammers,  by 
which  the  utmost  condensation  of  its  particles  is  effected. 
It  is  then  rough-bored  and  turned,  and  subsequently 
carefully  tempered  in  oil,  whereby  its  elasticity  and  tensile 
strength  are  much  increased.  It  is  afterwards  fine-bored 
and  rifled,  and  its  powder-chamber  hollowed  out.  The 
latter  has  a  somewhat  larger  diameter  than  the  rest  of  the 
bore,  this  having  been  found  an  improvement.  The 
grooves  of  the  rifling  are  generally  shallow,  and  they 
widen  towards  the  breech,  so  that  the  leaden  coat  of  the 
projectile  is  compressed  gradually  and  with  the  least 
friction.  The  jacket  and  hoops  of  steel  are  forged  and 
rolled,  without  weld,  and  after  being  turned  and  tempered, 
are  heated  and  shrunk  around  the  tube  in  their  several 
positions,  the  greatest  strength  and  thickness  being  of 
course  given  to  the  breech  end,  where  the  force  of  ex- 
plosion exerts  the  utmost  strain.  The  completed  gun  is 
mounted  on  its  appropriate  carriage,  and  having  been 
thoroughly  proved  and  tested  and  fitted  with  the  proper 
sights,  is  ready  for  service.  The  testing  range  is  at 
Meppen,  where  a  level  plain  several  miles  in  extent  affords 
a  suitable  site  for  the  purpose. 

For  many  years  all  guns  of  the  Krupp  manufacture  have 


46  IRON    AND    STEEL. 

been  on  the  breech-loading  system,  and  he  has  devoted 
much  time  and  ingenuity  to  perfecting  the  breech  arrange- 
ments. The  subject  of  recoil  has  also  largely  occupied 
his  attention.  In  the  larger  Krupp  guns  the  force  of 
recoil  is  absorbed  by  two  cylinders,  filled  with  glycerine 
and  fitted  with  pistons  perforated  at  the  edges.  The 
pistons  are  driven  by  the  shock  of  the  recoil  against  the 
glycerine,  which  is  forced  through  the  perforations.  In 
England  a  similar  arrangement  of  cylinders,  containing 
water  as  the  resisting  medium,  has  been  found  effective  ; 
and  in  America,  petroleum  is  employed  for  the  same 
purpose.  The  advantages  of  the  use  of  glycerine  are  that 
in  case  of  a  leak  it  would  escape  too  slowly  to  lose  its 
effect  at  once,  and  it  is  also  more  elastic  than  water,  and 
is  less  liable  to  become  frozen. 

The  resources  of  Krupp's  establishment  are  equal  to  the 
production  of  guns  of  any  size  that  can  conceivably  be 
required.  He  has  made  guns  of  one  hundred  and  nine- 
teen tons  weight.  The  portentous  development  of  the 
size  and  power  of  modern  ordnance  is  exemplified  by 
these  guns  and  the  Armstrong  guns  of  one  hundred  and 
eleven  tons  made  at  Elswick.  Amongst  the  class  of 
modern  cannon,  one  of  the  most  powerful  is  Krupp's 
seventy-one-ton  gun.  This,  like  all  others  of  his  make, 
is  a  breech-loader.  Its  dimensions  are — length,  thirty-two 
feet  nine  inches ;  diameter  at  breech  end,  five  feet  six 
inches ;  length  of  bore,  twenty-eight  feet  seven  inches ; 
diameter  of  bore,  15-75  inches;  diameter  of  powder- 
chamber,  17-32  inches.  The  internal  tube  is  of  two 
parts,  exactly  joined ;  and  over  this  are  four  cylinders, 
shrunk  on,  and  a  ring  round  the  breech.  Its  rifling  has  a 
uniform  twist  of  one  in  forty-five.  It  cannot  possibly  be 
fired  until  the  breech  is  perfectly  closed.  Its  maximum 
charge  is  four  hundred  and  eighty-five  pounds  of  powder,  and 
a  chilled  iron  shell  of  seventeen  hundred  and  eight  pounds. 


48  IRON    AND    STEEL. 

Krnpp  did  much  to  promote  the  welfare  and  comfort 
of  his  workpeople.  For  their  accommodation,  he  erected 
around  Essen  nearly  four  thousand  family  dwellings,  in 
which  more  than  sixteen  thousand  persons  reside.  The 
dwellings  are  in  suites  of  three  or  four  comfortable  rooms, 
with  good  water  -  arrangements ;  and  attached  to  each 
building  is  a  garden,  large  enough  for  the  children  to  play 
in.  There  are  one  hundred  and  fifty  dwellings  of  a  better 
kind  for  officials  in  the  service  of  the  firm.  Boarding- 
houses  have  also  been  built  for  the  use  of  unmarried 
labourers,  of  whom  two  thousand  are  thus  accommodated. 
Several  churches,  Protestant  and  Catholic,  have  also  been 
erected,  for  the  use  of  his  workmen  and  their  families. 
There  have  likewise  been  provided  two  hospitals,  bathing 
establishments,  a  gymnasium,  an  unsectarian  free  school, 
and  six  industrial  schools — one  for  adults,  two  for  females. 
In  the  case  of  the  industrial  schools,  the  fees  are  about 
two  shillings  monthly,  but  the  poorest  are  admitted  free. 
A  Sick  Relief  and  Pensions  Fund  has  been  instituted,  and 
every  foreman  and  workman  is  obliged  to  be  a  member. 
The  entrance  fee  is  half  a  day's  pay,  the  annual  payment 
being  proportioned  to  the  wages  of  the  individual  member; 
but  half  of  each  person's  contribution  is  paid  by  the  firm. 
There  are  three  large  surgeries ;  and  skilful  physicians  and 
surgeons,  one  of  whom  is  an  oculist,  are  employed  at 
fixed  salaries.  For  a  small  additional  fee  each  member 
can  also  secure  free  medical  aid  for  his  wife  and  children. 
The  advantages  to  members  are  free  medical  or  surgical 
treatment  in  case  of  need,  payment  from  the  fund  of 
funeral  expenses  at  death,  pensions  to  men  who  have  been 
permanently  disabled  by  injuries  while  engaged  in  the 
works,  pensions  to  widows  of  members,  and  temporary 
support  to  men  who  are  certified  by  two  of  the  physicians 
as  unable  to  work.  The  highest  pension  to  men  is  five 
pounds  monthly,   the   average   being   about    two    pounds 


KRUPP  S    IRON    AND    STEEL   WORKS    AT    ESSEN.  49 

sixteen  shillings  monthly.     The  average  pension  to  widows 
is  about  one  pound  fourteen  shillings  monthly. 

The  firm  have  made  special  arrangements  with  a  number 
of  life  insurance  companies  whereby  the  workmen  can,  if 
they  choose,  insure  their  lives  at  low  rates.  They  have 
formed  a  Life  Insurance  Union,  and  endowed  it  with  a 
reserve  fund  of  three  thousand  pounds,  from  which  aid  is 
given  to  members  needing  assistance  to  pay  their  pre- 
miums. An  important  institution  in  Essen  is  the  great 
Central  Supply  Store,  established  and  owned  by  the  firm, 
where  articles  of  every  description — bread,  meat,  and 
other  provisions,  clothing,  furniture,  &c. — are  sold  on  a 
rigidly  cash  system  at  cost  price.  Connected  with  the 
Central  Store  are  twenty-seven  branch  shops,  in  positions 
convenient  for  the  workpeople,  placing  the  advantages  of 
the  system  within  the  easy  reach  of  all. 

The  original  name,  '  Frederick  Krupp,'  has  been  re- 
tained through  all  vicissitudes  of  fortune  as  the  business 
title  of  the  firm.  The  small  dwelling  in  which  Alfred 
Krupp  was  born  is  still  standing,  in  the  midst  of  the  huge 
workshops  that  have  grown  up  around  it,  and  is  preserved 
with  the  greatest  care.  At  his  expense,  photographs  of  it 
were  distributed  among  his  workmen,  each  copy  bearing 
the  following  inscription,  dated  Essen,  February  1873  : 
'  Fifty  years  ago,  this  primitive  dwelling  was  the  abode  of 
my  parents.  I  hope  that  no  one  of  our  labourers  may 
ever  know  such  struggles  as  have  been  required  for  the 
establishment  of  these  works.  Twenty-five  years  ago  that 
success  was  still  doubtful  which  has  at  length — gradually, 
yet  wonderfully  —  rewarded  the  exertions,  fidelity,  and 
perseverance  of  the  past.  May  this  example  encourage 
others  who  are  in  difficulties  !  May  it  increase  respect 
for  small  houses,  and  sympathy  for  the  larger  sorrows  they 
too  often  contain.  The  object  of  labour  should  be  the 
common   weal.      If  work  bring   blessing,   then   is  labour 

D 


50  IRON    AND    STEEL. 

prayer.  May  every  one  in  our  community,  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest,  thoughtfully  and  wisely  strive  to 
secure  and  build  his  prosperity  on  this  principle  !  When 
this  is  done,  then  will  my  greatest  desire  be  realised.' 

Germany  has  become  a  formidable  competitor  to  Great 
Britain  in  the  iron  and  steel  trade,  and  German  steel  rails, 
girders,  and  wire  come  in  freely  to  this  country.  From 
reports  we  learn  that  Great  Britain  produced  in  1882 
8^  million  tons  of  iron  and  5  million  tons  of  finished  iron 
and  steel,  while  the  production  of  Germany  was  then  less 
than  3^  and  2-J  million  tons  respectively.  English  pro- 
duction had  fallen  to  7 -J-  million  tons  of  iron  and  4  million 
tons  of  finished  iron  and  steel  in  1895,  while  Germany  had 
risen  to  5  million  tons  and  6  million  tons  respectively. 

Contrary  to  what  has  been  commonly  believed,  it 
appears  that  the  difference  all  round  in  wages  amongst 
ironworkers,  as  between  England  and  Germany,  is  not 
great. 

Chicago,  Pittsburg,  Buffalo,  and  New  York  are  the  chief 
centres  of  the  American  iron  and  steel  trade,  the  production 
of  pig-iron  in  1895  being  about  9 J  million  tons,  whereas 
in  1880  it  was  well  under  4  million.  At  present  over  4 
millions  of  tons  are  produced  of  Bessemer  pig-iron. 


CHAPTER    II. 


POTTERY  AND  PORCELAIN. 


Josiah  Wedgwood  and  the  Wedgwood  Ware — Worcester  Porcelain. 

HEN  Mr  Godfrey  Wedgwood,  a  member  of 
the  famous  firm  of  potters  at  Etruria,  near 
Burslem,  Staffordshire,  went  to  work  about 
forty  years  ago,  his  famous  ancestor  and 
~~  founder  of  the  world-famed  Wedgwood  ware 
was  still  named  amongst  the  workmen  as  '  Owd  Wooden 
Leg.'  A  son  of  Mr  Godfrey  Wedgwood,  now  in  the  firm, 
is  the  fifth  generation  in  descent,  and  the  manufactory  is 
still  carried  on  in  the  same  buildings  erected  by  Josiah 
Wedgwood  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  ago. 

One  hundred  years  ago  Josiah  Wedgwood,  the  creator 
of  British  artistic  pottery,  passed  away  at  Etruria,  near 
Burslem,  surrounded  by  the  creations  of  his  own  well- 
directed  genius  and  industry,  having  '  converted  a  rude 
and  inconsiderable  manufacture  into  an  elegant  art  and 
an  important  part  of  national  commerce.'  His  death 
took  place  on  3d  January  1795,  tne  same  year  in  which 
Thomas  Carlyle  saw  the  light  at  Ecclefechan,  and  one 
year  and  a  half  before  the  death  of  Burns  at  Dumfries. 
During  fifty  years  of  his  working  life,  largely  owing  to 
his  own  successful  efforts,  he  had  witnessed  the  output  of 
the  Staffordshire  potteries  increased  fivefold,  and  his  wares 


JOSIA.H  ^VEDG^VOOD. 


JOSIAH    WEDGWOOD.  53 

were  known  and  sold  over  Europe  and  the  civilised  world. 
In  the  words  of  Mr  Gladstone,  his  characteristic  merit  lay 
'  in  the  firmness  and  fullness  with  which  he  perceived  the 
true  law  of  what  we  may  call  Industrial  Art,  or,  in  other 
words,  of  the  application  of  the  higher  art  to  Industry.' 
Novalis  once  compared  the  works  of  Goethe  and  Wedg- 
wood in  these  words  :  '  Goethe  is  truly  a  practical  poet. 
He  is  in  his  works  what  the  Englishman  is  in  his  wares, 
perfectly  simple,  neat,  fit,  and  durable.  He  has  played  in 
the  German  world  of  literature  the  same  part  that  Wedg- 
wood has  played  in  the  English  world  of  art.' 

Long  ago,  in  his  sketch  of  Brindley  and  the  early 
engineers,  Dr  Smiles  had  occasion  to  record  the  important 
service  rendered  by  Wedgwood  in  the  making  of  the 
Grand  Trunk  Canal — towards  the  preliminary  expense 
of  which  he  subscribed  one  thousand  pounds — and  in 
the  development  of  the  industrial  life  of  the  Midlands. 
Since  that  time  Smiles  has  himself  published  a  biography 
of  Wedgwood,  to  which  we  are  here  indebted. 

More  than  once  it  has  happened  that  the  youngest  of 
thirteen  children  has  turned  out  a  genius.  It  was  so  in 
the  case  of  Sir  Richard  Arkwnght,  and  it  turned  out  to  be 
so  in  the  case  of  Josiah  Wedgwood,  the  youngest  of  the 
thirteen  children  of  Thomas  Wedgwood,  a  Burslem  potter, 
and  of  Mary  Stringer,  a  kind-hearted  but  delicate,  sensi- 
tive woman,  the  daughter  of  a  nonconformist  clergyman. 
The  town  of  Burslem,  in  Staffordshire,  where  Wedgwood 
saw  the  light  in  1730,  was  then  anything  but  an  attractive 
place.  Drinking  and  cock-fighting  were  the  common 
recreations ;  roads  had  scarcely  any  existence ;  the 
thatched  hovels  had  dunghills  before  the  doors,  while 
the  hollows  from  which  the  potter's  clay  was  excavated 
were  filled  with  stagnant  water,  and  the  atmosphere  of 
the  whole  place  was  coarse  and  unwholesome,  and  a  most 
unlikely  nursery  of  genius. 


54  POTTERY    AND    PORCELAIN. 

It  is  probable  that  the  first  Wedgwoods  take  their 
name  from  the  hamlet  of  Weggewood  in  Staffordshire. 
There  had  been  Wedgwoods  in  Burslem  from  a  very  early 
period,  and  this  name  occupies  a  large  space  in  the  parish 
registers  during  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries ; 
of  the  fifty  small  potters  settled  there,  many  bore  this 
honoured  name.  The  ware  consisted  of  articles  in  common 
use,  such  as  butter-pots,  basins,  jugs,  and  porringers.  The 
black  glazed  and  ruddy  pottery  then  in  use  was  much 
improved  after  an  immigration  of  Dutchmen  and  Germans. 
The  Elers,  who  followed  the  Prince  of  Orange,  introduced 
the  Delft  ware  and  the  salt  glaze.  They  produced  a  kind 
of  red  ware,  and  Egyptian  black ;  but  disgusted  at  the 
discovery  of  their  secret  methods  by  Astbury  and  Twyford, 
they  removed  to  Chelsea  in  1710.  An  important  improve- 
ment was  made  by  Astbury,  that  of  making  ware  white  by 
means  of  burnt  flint.  Samuel  Astbury,  a  son  of  this 
famous  potter,  married  an  aunt  of  Josiah  Wedgwood. 
But  the  art  was  then  in  its  infancy,  not  more  than  one 
hundred  people  being  employed  in  this  way  in  the  district 
of  Burslem,  as  compared  with  about  ten  thousand  now, 
with  an  annual  export  of  goods  amounting  to  about  two 
hundred  thousand  pounds,  besides  what  are  utilised  in 
home-trade.  John  Wesley,  after  visiting  Burslem  in  1760, 
and  twenty  years  later  in  1781,  remarked  how  the  whole 
face  of  the  country  had  been  improved  in  that  period. 
Inhabitants  had  flowed  in,  the  wilderness  had  become  a 
fruitful  field,  and  the  country  was  not  more  improved  than 
the  people. 

All  the  school  education  young  Josiah  received  was 
over  in  his  ninth  year,  and  it  amounted  to  only  a  slight 
grounding  in  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic.  But  his 
practical  or  technical  education  went  on  continually,  while 
he  afterwards  supplemented  many  of  the  deficiencies  of 
early  years  by  a  wide  course  of  study.     After  the  death  of 


JOSIAH    WEDGWOOD.  55 

his  father,  he  began  the  practical  business  of  life  as  a 
potter  in  his  ninth  year,  by  learning  the  throwing  branch 
of  the  trade.  The  thrower  moulds  the  vessel  out  of  the 
moist  clay  from  the  potter's  wheel  into  the  required 
shape,  and  hands  it  on  to  be  dealt  with  by  the  stouker, 
who  adds  the  handle.  Josiah  at  eleven  proved  a  clever 
thrower  of  the  black  and  mottled  ware  then  in  vogue, 
such  as  baking-dishes,  pitchers,  and  milk-cans.  But  a 
severe  attack  of  virulent  smallpox  almost  terminated  his 
career,  and  left  a  weakness  in  his  right  knee,  which 
developed,  so  that  this  limb  had  to  be  amputated  at 
a  later  date.  He  was  bound  apprentice  to  his  brother 
Thomas  in  1744,  when  in  his  fourteenth  year;  but  this 
weak  knee,  which  hampered  him  so  much,  proved  a 
blessing  in  disguise,  for  it  sent  him  from  the  thrower's 
place  to  the  moulder's  board,  where  he  improved  the 
ware,  his  first  effort  being  an  ornamental  teapot  made 
of  the  ochreous  clay  of  the  district.  Other  work  of  this 
period  comprised  plates,  pickle-leaves,  knife- hafts,  and 
snuff-boxes.  At  the  same  time  he  made  experiments  in 
the  chemistry  of  the  material  lie  was  using.  Wedgwood's 
great  study  was  that  of  different  kinds  of  colouring  matter 
for  clays,  but  at  the  same  time  he  mastered  every  branch 
of  the  art.  That  he  was  a  well-behaved  young  man  is 
evident  from  the  fact  that  he  was  held  up  in  the  neighbour- 
hood as  a  pattern  for  emulation. 

But  his  brother  Thomas,  who  moved  along  in  the  old 
rut,  had  small  sympathy  with  all  this  experimenting,  and 
thought  Josiah  flighty  and  full  of  fancies.  After  remaining 
for  a  time  with  his  brother,  at  the  completion  of  his 
apprenticeship  Wedgwood  became  partner  in  1752,  in  a 
small  pottery  near  Stoke-upon-Trent :  soon  after,  Mr 
Whieldon,  one  of  the  most  eminent  potters  of  the  day, 
joined  the  firm.  Here  Wedgwood  took  pains  to  discover 
new    methods    and    striking    designs,    as    trade   was    then 


o 

O 

o 

13 


JOSIAH    WEDGWOOD.  57 

depressed.  New  green  earthenware  was  produced,  as 
smooth  as  glass,  for  dessert  service,  moulded  in  the  form 
of  leaves ;  also  toilet  ware,  snuff-boxes,  and  articles  coloured 
in  imitation  of  precious  stones,  which  the  jewellers  of  that 
time  sold  largely.  Other  articles  of  manufacture  were 
blue-flowered  cups  and  saucers,  and  varicoloured  teapots. 
Wedgwood,  on  the  expiry  of  his  partnership  with  Whieldon, 
started  on  his  own  account  in  his  native  Burslem  in  1760. 
His  capital  must  have  been  small,  as  the  sum  of  twenty 
pounds  was  all  he  had  received  from  his  father's  estate. 
He  rented  Ivy  House  and  Works  at  ten  pounds  a  year, 
and  engaged  his  second-cousin,  Thomas,  as  workman 
at  eight  shillings  and  sixpence  a  week.  He  gradually 
acquired  a  reputation  for  the  taste  and  excellence  of 
design  of  his  green  glazed  ware,  his  tortoiseshell  and 
tinted  snuff-boxes,  and  white  medallions.  A  specially 
designed  tea-service,  representing  different  fruits  and 
vegetables,  sold  well,  and,  as  might  be  expected,  was 
at  once  widely  imitated.  He  hired  new  works  on  the 
site  now  partly  occupied  by  the  Wedgwood  Institute, 
and  introduced  various  new  tools  and  appliances.  His 
kilns  for  firing  his  fine  ware  gave  him  the  greatest  trouble, 
and  had  to  be  often  renewed.  James  Brindley,  when 
puzzled  in  thinking  out  some  engineering  problem,  used 
to  retire  to  bed  and  work  it  out  in  his  head  before  he  got 
up.  Sir  Josiah  Mason,  the  Birmingham  pen-maker,  used 
to  simmer  over  in  his  mind  on  the  previous  night  the  work 
for  the  next  day.  Wedgwood  had  a  similar  habit,  which 
kept  him  often  awake  during  the  early  part  of  the  night. 
Probably  owing  to  the  fortunate  execution  of  an  order 
through  Miss  Chetwynd,  maid  of  honour  to  Queen 
Charlotte,  of  a  complete  cream  service  in  green  and 
gold,  Wedgwood  secured  the  patronage  of  royalty,  and 
was  appointed  Queen's  Potter  in  1763.  His  Queen's  ware 
became  popular,  and  secured  him  much  additional  business. 


58  POTTERY   AND    PORCELAIN. 

An  engine  lathe  which  he  introduced  greatly  forwarded 
his  designs ;  and  the  wareroom  opened  in  London  for  the 
exhibition  of  his  now  famous  Queen's  ware,  Etruscan 
vases,  and  other  works,  drew  attention  to  the  excellence 
of  his  work.  He  started  works  besides  at  Chelsea, 
supervised  by  his  partner  Bentley,  where  modellers, 
enamellers,  and  artists  were  employed,  so  that  the  cares 
of  his  business,  'pot-making  and  navigating' — the  latter 
the  carrying  through  of  the  Grand  Trunk  Canal — entirely 
filled  his  mind  and  time  at  this  period.  So  busy  was  he, 
that  he  sometimes  wondered  whether  he  was  an  engineer, 
a  landowner,  or  a  potter.  Meanwhile,  a  step  he  had  no 
cause  to  regret  was  his  marriage  in  1764  to  Sarah  Wedg- 
wood, no  relation  of  his  own,  a  handsome  lady  of  good 
education  and  of  some  fortune. 

Wedgwood  had  begun  to  imitate  the  classic  works  of  the 
Greeks  found  in  public  and  private  collections,  and  pro- 
duced his  unglazed  black  porcelain,  which  he  named 
Basaltes,  in  1766.  The  demand  for  his  vases  at  this 
time  was  so  great  that  he  could  have  sold  fifty  or  one 
hundred  pounds'  worth  a  day,  if  he  had  been  able  to 
produce  them  fast  enough.  He  was  now  patronised  by 
royalty,  by  the  Empress  of  Russia,  and  the  nobility 
generally.  A  large  service  for  Queen  Charlotte  took 
three  years  to  execute,  as  part  of  the  commission  consisted 
in  painting  on  the  ware,  in  black  enamel,  about  twelve 
hundred  views  of  palaces,  seats  of  the  nobility,  and 
remarkable  places.  A  service  for  the  Empress  of  Russia 
took  eight  years  to  complete.  It  consisted  of  nine 
hundred  and  fifty-two  pieces,  of  which  the  cost  was 
believed  to  have  been  three  thousand  pounds,  although 
this  scarcely  paid  Wedgwood's  working  expenses. 

Prosperity  elbowed  Wedgwood  out  of  his  old  buildings 
in  Burslem,  and  led  him  to  purchase  land  two  miles  away, 
on  the  line  of  the  proposed  Grand  Trunk   Canal,  where 


JOSIAH    WEDGWOOD.  59 

his  flourishing  manufactories  and  model  workmen's  houses 
sprang  up  gradually,  and  were  named  Etruria,  after  the 
Italian  home  of  the  famous  Etruscans,  whose  work  he 
admired  and  imitated.  His  works  were  partly  removed 
thither  in  1769,  and  wholly  in  1771.  At  this  time  he 
showed  great  public  spirit,  and  aided  in  getting  an  Act  of 
Parliament  for  better  roads  in  the  neighbourhood,  and 
backed  Brindley  and  Earl  Gower  in  their  Grand  Trunk 
Canal  scheme,  which  was  destined,  when  completed,  to 
cheapen  and  quicken  the  carriage  of  goods  to  Liverpool, 
Bristol,  and  Hull.  The  opposition  was  keen  :  and  Wedg- 
wood issued  a  pamphlet  showing  the  benefits  which  would 
accrue  to  trade  in  the  Midlands  by  the  proposed  waterway. 
When  victory  was  secured,  after  the  passing  of  the  Act 
there  was  a  holiday  and  great  rejoicing  in  Burslem  and  the 
neighbourhood,  and  the  first  sod  of  the  canal  was  cut  by 
Wedgwood,  July  26,  1766.  He  was  also  appointed 
treasurer  of  the  new  undertaking,  which  was  eleven 
years  in  progress.  Brindley,  the  greatest  engineer  then 
in  England,  doubtless  sacrificed  his  life  to  its  success, 
as  he  died  of  continual  harassment  and  diabetes  at  the 
early  age  of  fifty-six.  Wedgwood  had  an  immense  admira- 
tion for  Brindley 's  work  and  character.  In  the  prospect 
of  spending  a  day  with  him,  he  said :  *  As  I  always  edify 
full  as  much  in  that  man's  company  as  at  church,  I 
promise  myself  to  be  much  wiser  the  day  following.' 
Like  Carlyle,  who  whimsically  put  the  builder  of  a  bridge 
before  the  writer  of  a  book,  Wedgwood  placed  the  man 
who  designed  the  outline  of  a  jug  or  the  turn  of  a  teapot 
far  below  the  creator  of  a  canal  or  the  builder  of  a  city. 

In  the  career  of  a  man  of  genius  and  original  powers, 
the  period  of  early  struggle  is  often  the  most  interesting. 
When  prosperity  comes,  after  difficulties  have  been  sur- 
mounted, there  is  generally  less  to  challenge  attention. 
But  Wedgwood's  career  was  still  one  of  continual  progress 


60  POTTERY    AND    PORCELAIN. 

up  to  the  very  close.  His  Queen's  ware,  made  of  the 
whitest  clay  from  Devon  and  Dorset,  was  greatly  in 
demand,  and  much  improved.  The  fine  earthenwares 
and  porcelains  which  became  the  basis  of  such  manu- 
factures were  originated  here.  Young  men  of  artistic 
taste  were  employed  and  encouraged  to  supply  designs, 
and  a  school  of  instruction  for  drawing,  painting,  and 
modelling  was  started.  Artists  such  as  Coward  and 
Hoskins  modelled  the  'Sleeping  Boy,'  one  of  the  finest 
and  largest  of  his  works.  John  Bacon,  afterwards  known 
as  a  sculptor,  was  one  of  his  artists,  as  also  James  Tassie 
of  Glasgow.  Wedgwood  engaged  capable  men  wherever 
they  could  be  found.  For  his  Etruscan  models  he  was 
greatly  indebted  to  Sir  W.  Hamilton.  Specimens  of  his 
famous  portrait  cameos,  medallions,  and  plaques  will  be 
found  in  most  of  our  public  museums. 

The  general  health  of  Wedgwood  suffered  so  much 
between  1767  and  1768  that  he  decided  to  have  the 
limb  which  had  troubled  him  since  his  boyhood  am- 
putated. He  sat,  and  without  wincing,  witnessed  the 
surgeons  cut  off  his  right  leg,  for  there  were  then  no 
anaesthetics.  'Mr  Wedgwood  has  this  day  had  his  leg 
taken  off,'  wrote  one  of  the  Burslem  clerks  at  the  foot 
of  a  London  invoice,  '  and  is  as  well  as  can  be  expected 
after  such  an  execution.'  His  wife  was  his  good  angel 
when  recovering,  and  acted  as  hands  and  feet  and 
secretary  to  him;  while  his  partner  Bentley  (formerly 
a  Liverpool  merchant)  and  Dr  Darwin  were  also  kind; 
and  he  was  almost  oppressed  with  the  inquiries  of  many 
noble  and  distinguished  persons  during  convalescence. 
He  had  to  be  content  with  a  wooden  leg  now.  'Send 
me,'  he  wrote  to  his  brother  in  London,  'by  the  next 
wagon  a  spare  leg,  which  you  will  find,  I  believe,  in 
the  closet'  He  lived  to  wear  out  a  succession  of  wooden 
legs. 


JOSIAH    WEDCxWOOD.  6 1 

Indifference  and  idleness  he  could  not  tolerate,  and  his 
fine  artistic  sense  was  offended  by  any  bit  of  imperfect 
work.  In  going  through  his  works,  he  would  lift  the 
stick  upon  which  he  leaned  and  smash  the  offending 
article,  saying,  '  This  won't  do  for  Josiah  Wedgwood.' 
All  the  while  he  had  a  keen  insight  into  the  character 
of  his  workmen,  although  he  used  to  say  that  he  had 
everything  to  teach  them,  even  to  the  making  of  a  table 
plate. 

He  was  no  monopolist,  and  the  only  patent  he  ever 
took  out  was  for  the  discovery  of  the  lost  art  of  burning 
in  colours,  as  in  the  Etruscan  vases.  '  Let  us  make  all 
the  good,  fine,  and  new  things  we  can,'  he  said  to  Bentley 
once ;  '  and  so  far  from  being  afraid  of  other  people 
getting  our  patterns,  we  should  glory  in  it,  and  throw 
out  all  the  hints  we  can,  and  if  possible,  have  all  the 
artists  in  Europe  working  after  our  models.'  By  this 
means  he  hoped  to  secure  the  goodwill  of  his  best 
customers  and  of  the  public.  At  the  same  time  he 
never  sacrificed  excellence  to  cheapness.  As  the  sale 
of  painted  Etruscan  ware  declined,  his  Jasper  porcelain — 
so  called  from  its  resemblance  to  the  stone  of  that  name — 
became  popular.  The  secret  of  its  manufacture  was  kept 
for  many  years.  It  was  composed  of  flint,  potter's  clay, 
carbonate  of  barytes,  and  terra  ponderosa.  This  and  the 
Jasper-dip  are  in  several  tones  and  hues  of  blue ;  also 
yellow,  lilac,  and  green.  He  called  in  the  good  genius  of 
Flaxman  in  1775  '■>  an^,  for  the  following  twelve  years,  the 
afterwards  famous  sculptor  did  an  immense  amount  of 
work  and  enhanced  his  own  and  his  patron's  reputation. 
Flaxman  did  some  of  his  finest  work  in  this  Jasper  porce- 
lain. Some  of  Flaxman's  designs  Wedgwood  could 
scarcely  be  prevailed  upon  to  part  with.  A  bas-relief 
of  the  'Apotheosis  of  Homer'  went  for  seven  hundred 
and  thirty-five  pounds  at  the  sale  of  his  partner  Bentley ; 


62 


POTTERY    AND    PORCELAIN. 


and  the  *  Sacrifice  to  Hymen,'  a  tablet  in  blue  and  white 
Jasper  (1787),  brought  four  hundred  and  fifteen  pounds. 
The  first  named  is  now  in  the  collection  of  Lord  Tweed- 
mouth.  Wedgwood's  copy  of  the  Barberini  or  Portland 
Vase  was  a  great  triumph  of  his  art.  This  vase,  which 
had  contained  the  ashes  of  the  Roman  Emperor  Alexander 
Severus  and  his  mother,  was  of  dark-blue  glass,  with  white 
enamel  figures.  It  now  stands  in  the  medal  room  of 
the  British  Museum  alongside  a  model  by  Wedgwood. 
It  stands  10  inches  high,  and  is 
the  finest  specimen  of  an  ancient 
cameo  cut-glass  vase  known.  It 
was  smashed  by  a  madman  in 
1845,  but  was  afterwards  skilfully 
repaired.  Wedgwood  made  fifty 
copies  in  fine  earthenware,  which 
were  originally  sold  at  25  guineas 
each.  One  of  these  now  fetches 
^200.  The  vase  itself  once 
changed  hands  for  eighteen  hun- 
dred guineas,  and  a  copy  fetched 
two  hundred  and  fifteen  guineas 
in  1892. 

Josiah  Wedgwood  now  stood  at  the  head  of  the  potters 
of  Staffordshire,  and  the  manufactory  at  Etruria  drew 
visitors  from  all  parts  of  Europe.  The  motto  of  its 
founder  was  still  '  Forward ;'  and,  as  Dr  Smiles  expresses 
it,  there  was  with  him  no  finality  in  the  development  of 
his  profession.  He  studied  chemistry,  botany,  drawing, 
designing,  and  conchology.  His  inquiring  mind  wanted 
to  get  to  the  bottom  of  everything.  He  journeyed  to 
Cornwall,  and  was  successful  in  getting  kaolin  for  china- 
ware.  Queen  Charlotte  patronised  a  new  pearl-white  tea- 
ware  ;  and  he  succeeded  in  perfecting  the  pestle  and 
mortar   for   the   apothecary.      He   invented  a  pyrometer 


Portland  Vase. 


WORCESTER    PORCELAIN.  63 

for  measuring  temperatures  ;  and  was  elected  Fellow  of 
the  Royal  Society.  Amongst  his  intimate  friends  were 
Dr  Erasmus  Darwin,  poet  and  physician  (the  famous 
Charles  Robert  Darwin  was  a  grandson,  his  mother 
having  been  a  daughter  of  Wedgwood's),  Boulton  of 
Soho  Works,  James  Watt,  Thomas  Clarkson,  Sir  Joseph 
Banks,  and  Thomas  Day. 

We  have  an  example  of  the  generosity  of  Wedgwood's 
disposition  in  his  treatment  of  John  Leslie,  afterwards 
Professor  Sir  John  Leslie  of  Edinburgh  University.  He 
was  so  well  pleased  with  his  tutoring  of  his  sons  that  he 
settled  an  annuity  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  upon 
him ;  and  it  may  be  that  the  influence  of  this  able  tutor 
led  Thomas  Wedgwood  to  take  up  the  study  of  heliotype, 
and  become  a  pioneer  of  photographic  science,  even 
before  Daguerre.  How  industrious  Wedgwood  had  been 
in  his  profession  is  evident  from  the  seven  thousand 
specimens  of  clay  from  all  parts  of  the  world  which  he 
had  tested  and  analysed.  The  six  entirely  new  pieces  of 
earthenware  and  porcelain  which,  along  with  his  Queen's 
ware,  he  had  introduced  early  in  his  career,  as  painted 
and  embellished,  became  the  foundation  of  nearly  all  the 
fine  earthenware  and  porcelains  since  produced.  He  had 
his  reward,  for  besides  a  flourishing  business,  he  left  more 
than  half  a  million  of  money. 


WORCESTER    PORCELAIN. 

One  of  the  most  artistic  and  interesting  industries  in  this 
country  is  the  manufacture  of  porcelain  in  the  ancient  city 
of  Worcester.  There  is  no  special  local  reason  for  the 
establishment  of  such  works  there,  but  Worcester  has  been 
noted  as  the  home  of  the  famous  porcelain  for  more  than 


WORCESTER    PORCELAIN.  65 

a  century.  It  was  in  1751  that  Dr  Wall,  a  chemist  and 
artist,  completed  his  experiment  in  the  combination  of 
various  elements,  and  produced  a  porcelain  which  was 
more  like  the  true  or  natural  Chinese  porcelain  than  any 
ever  devised.  This  was  the  more  remarkable  because 
kaolin  had  not  then  been  discovered  in  this  country.  The 
inventor  set  up  his  factory  in  Worcester,  close  to  the 
cathedral,  and  for  a  long  time  he  produced  his  egg-shell 
and  Tonquin  porcelain  in  various  forms,  chiefly,  however, 
those  of  table  services.  Transfer-printing  was  introduced 
later  on,  and  was  executed  with  much  of  the  artist's  spirit 
by  experts  who  attached  themselves  to  the  Worcester 
works  after  the  closing  of  the  enamel  works  at  Battersea. 
It  was  a  remarkable  century  in  its  devotion  to  ceramic 
art ;  and  it  was  characteristic  of  the  ruling  princes  of  the 
Continent  that  they  should  patronise  lavishly  various 
potteries  of  more  or  less  repute.  Towards  the  end  of  the 
century  the  first  sign  of  this  royal  favour  was  vouchsafed 
to  Worcester.  George  III.  visited  the  factories,  and  under 
the  impetus  given  by  his  patronage,  the  wares  of  the  city 
advanced  so  much  in  popularity  that,  in  the  early  part  of 
this  century,  it  is  said,  there  were  few  noble  families  which 
had  not  in  their  china  closets  an  elaborate  service  of  Wor- 
cester, bearing  the  family  arms  and  motto  in  appropriate 
emblazonment.  In  181 1,  George  IV.  being  then  Prince 
Regent,  several  splendid  services  of  Worcester  porcelain 
were  ordered  to  equip  his  table  for  the  new  social  duties 
entailed  by  his  regency,  and  one  of  these  alone  cost 
^£4000.  In  the  museums  at  the  Worcester  works  there 
are  specimens  of  many  beautiful  services,  designed  in 
accordance  with  the  contemporary  ideas  of  pomp  and 
stateliness.  The  porcelain  artists  in  those  days  must  have 
been  well  versed  in  heraldry ;  for  their  chief  duties  seem 
to  have  been  the  reproduction  of  crests  and  coats-of-arms. 
Some  of  the  services  have  interesting  stories.     There  is 

E 


66  POTTERY    AND    PORCELAIN. 

one  of  deep  royal  blue,  beautifully  decorated,  and  bearing 
in  the  centre  an  emblematical  figure  of  Hope.  The  story 
ran  that  it  was  ordered  by  Nelson  for  presentation  to  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland,  and  that  the  figure  of  Hope  was 
really  a  portrait  of  Lady  Hamilton.  This,  however,  was 
an  error :  the  service  was  ordered  by  the  Duke  himself  in 
the  ordinary  way,  and  though  Lord  Nelson  did  order  a 
service  of  Worcester  porcelain,  he  died  before  it  could  be 
completed,  and  it  was  afterwards  dispersed.  Another 
story  attaches  to  a  plate  adorned  with  a  picture  of  a  ship 
in  full  sail  approaching  harbour.  The  Imaum  of  Muscat 
sent  many  presents  to  the  Prince  Regent,  and  hinted  that 
he  would  like  a  ship  of  war  in  return.  The  English  autho- 
rities, however,  did  not  see  fit  to  give  attention  to  this 
request,  and  sent  him  instead  many  beautiful  things,  in- 
cluding a  service  of  Worcester  ware,  bearing  on  each  piece 
a  scene  showing  the  royal  yacht  which  bore  the  gifts 
entering  the  cove  of  Muscat.  When  the  potentate  heard, 
however,  that  his  dearest  wish  had  been  thwarted  in  this 
way,  he  refused  to  allow  the  vessel  to  enter  the  harbour, 
and  all  the  presents  had  to  be  brought  back  again.  The 
picture  on  the  plate,  therefore,  is  more  imaginative  than 
accurate. 

The  Worcester  porcelain  began  to  develop  in  fresh 
directions  soon  after  the  Great  Exhibition  of  185 1,  which 
gave  an  impulse  to  the  efforts  of  the  artists,  and  the 
decorative  side  of  the  work  was  brought  into  a  much 
more  prominent  position.  For  instance,  the  'Worcester 
enamels,'  in  the  style  of  those  of  Limoges,  were  intro- 
duced, and  an  illustration  of  this  work  is  to  be  seen  in  a 
pair  of  remarkable  vases,  bearing  enamel  reproductions  of 
Maclise's  drawings,  founded  on  the  Bayeux  tapestries. 
About  this  time,  too,  after  several  years  of  experiment,  the 
ivory  ware — an  idea  inspired  by  the  lovely  ivory  sculptures 
in   the   Exhibition — was  brought  to   perfection.      It   is  a 


WORCESTER    PORCELAIN.  67 

beautiful,  creamy,  translucent  porcelain,  singularly  fitted 
for  artistic  treatment,  and  it  is  now  the  most  characteristic 
of  the  later  developments  of  the  Worcester  work.  In  fact, 
the  art  directors  of  the  enterprise  will  not  issue  now  any 
new  wares  in  the  style  of  those  which  found  favour  at  an 
earlier  period,  for  they  know  that  they  would  instantly  be 
palmed  off  on  the  unwary  as  the  genuine  products  of  the 
bygone  times. 

To  trace  the  process  of  the  manufacture,  from  the 
mixing  of  the  ingredients  to  the  burning  of  the  last  wash 
in  the  decorated  piece,  is  very  interesting.  It  is  a  process 
freely  shown  to  visitors,  and  forms  one  of  the  principal 
lions  in  the  sober  old  town  which  has  lain  for  so  many 
centuries  on  the  banks  of  the  Severn.  The  materials  are 
brought  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  Kaolin,  or  china 
clay,  which  is  the  felspar  of  decomposed  granite  washed 
from  the  rocks,  is  brought  from  Cornwall,  so  is  the  Cornish 
or  china  stone ;  felspar  is  brought  from  Sweden,  and 
though  of  a  rich  red,  it  turns  white  when  burnt ;  marl  and 
fire-clay  come  from  Broseley,  in  Shropshire,  and  Stour- 
bridge ;  flints  are  brought  from  Dieppe ;  and  bones — 
those  of  the  ox  only — come  all  the  way  from  South 
America  to  be  calcined  and  ground  down.  The  grinding 
is  a  slow  matter ;  each  ingredient  is  ground  separately  in 
a  vat,  the  bottom  of  which  is  a  hard  stone,  whereon  other 
hard  stones  of  great  weight  revolve  slowly.  From  twelve 
hours'  to  ten  days'  constant  treatment  by  these  remorseless 
mills  is  required  by  the  various  materials,  some  needing  to 
be  ground  much  longer  than  others  before  the  requisite 
fineness  is  attained.  It  is  essential  that  all  the  ingredients 
should  be  reduced  to  a  certain  standard  of  grain ;  and  the 
contents  of  each  vat  must  pass  through  a  lawn  sieve  with 
four  thousand  meshes  to  the  square  inch.  When  the 
materials  are  sufficiently  ground  to  meet  this  test,  they  are 
taken    to    the   'slip-house,'  and  mixed   together  with   the 


68  POTTERY   AND    PORCELAIN. 

clays,  which  do  not  need  grinding.  A  magnet  of  great 
strength  is  in  each  mixing  trough,  and  draws  to  itself  every 
particle  of  iron,  which,  if  allowed  to  remain  in  the  mixture, 
would  injure  the  ware  very  much.  When  properly 
mixed,  the  water  is  pressed  out,  and  the  paste  or  clay  is 
beaten  so  that  it  may  obtain  consistency.  Then  it  is 
ready  to  be  made  into  the  many  shapes  which  find  popular 
favour. 

The  process  of  manufacture  depends  on  the  shape  to  be 
obtained.  A  plain  circular  teacup  may  be  cast  on  a 
potter's  wheel  of  the  ancient  kind.  When  it  is  partly  dried 
in  a  mould,  it  is  turned  on  a  lathe  and  trimmed  ;  then  the 
handle,  which  has  been  moulded,  is  affixed  with  a  touch  of 
the  '  slip ' — the  porcelain  paste  in  a  state  of  dilution  is  the 
cement  used  in  all  such  situations — and  the  piece  is  ready 
for  the  fire.  A  plate  or  saucer,  however,  is  made  by  flat 
pressing;  a  piece  of  clay  like  a  pancake  is  laid  on  the 
mould,  which  is  set  revolving  on  a  wheel ;  the  deft  fingers 
of  the  workmen  press  the  clay  to  the  proper  shape,  and  it 
is  then  dried.  But  the  elaborate  ornamental  pieces  of 
graceful  design  are  made  in  moulds,  and  for  this  process 
the  clay  is  used  in  the  thin  or  '  slip '  state.  The  moulds 
are  pressed  together,  the  slip  is  poured  into  them  through 
a  hole  in  one  side,  and  when  the  moisture  has  been 
absorbed  by  the  plaster  moulds  sufficiently,  the  piece  is 
taken  out.  It  is  often  necessary,  in  making  a  large  or 
complicated  piece,  to  have  as  many  as  twenty  or  thirty 
castings.  In  moulding  a  figure,  for  instance,  the  legs  and 
arms  and  hands,  even  the  thumbs  in  many  cases,  are  cast 
separately,  and  with  many  other  parts  of  the  design  are 
laid  before  a  workman,  who  carefully  builds  up  the  com- 
plete figure  out  of  the  apparent  chaos  of  parts,  affixing 
each  piece  to  the  body  with  a  touch  of  slip.  When  these 
wares  are  complete,  they  have  to  be  fired  for  the  first 
time ;  and  they  are  taken  to  a  kiln,  and  placed  with  great 


WORCESTER    PORCELAIN.  69 

care  and  many  precautions  in  the  grim  interior.  The 
contraction  of  the  clay  under  fire  is  a  matter  to  which  the 
designers  must  give  much  study ;  and  the  change  which 
takes  place  during  forty  hours'  fierce  firing  in  the  kiln  is 
shown  by  contrasting  an  unburnt  piece  and  a  piece  of 
'  biscuit '  or  burnt  ware,  and  marking  the  shrinkage.  Your 
ware  must  be  calculated  to  shrink  only  so  much ;  if  it 
shrink  a  shade  further,  the  whole  process  may  be  spoiled. 
There  is  a  loss  of  twenty-five  per  cent,  sometimes  in  these 
kilns,  in  spite  of  the  assiduous  care  of  the  workmen. 
When  the  biscuit  ware  has  cooled,  it  is  dipped  in  the 
glaze,  which  is  a  compound  of  lead  and  borax  and  other 
materials — virtually  a  sort  of  glass — and  then  it  is  fired  for 
sixteen  hours  in  the  'glost  oven.'  There  is  no  contraction 
in  this  ordeal ;  but  there  is  a  risk  none  the  less  from  other 
causes.  In  fact,  there  is  the  danger  of  injury  every  time 
the  ware  goes  to  the  fire,  and  as  the  highly  decorated 
pieces  have  to  go  to  the  kiln  many  times,  it  may  be 
inferred  that  the  labour  of  weeks  and  even  months 
is  sometimes  nullified  by  an  untoward  accident  in  the 
burning. 

It  is  during  the  process  of  decoration  that  the  ornate 
vases  and  figures  make  so  many  trips  to  the  fire.  The 
artist  department  is  a  very  large  and  important  one.  The 
designers,  however,  are  a  class  of  themselves.  They  pro- 
ject the  idea;  it  is  the  business  of  the  artist,  in  these 
circumstances,  to  execute  it.  The  painters  are  taken  into 
the  works  as  lads  and  trained  for  the  special  service. 
What  you  remark  chiefly  in  going  through  the  decorating 
rooms  is  the  great  facility  of  the  artists.  You  see  a  man 
with  a  plate  or  vase  on  which  he  is  outlining  a  landscape, 
and  you  marvel  at  the  rapid,  accurate  touches  with  which 
he  does  the  work.  Flowers,  birds,  and  figures  they  can 
reproduce  with  great  skill,  and  many  of  them  are  artists 
not  merely  in  facility  but  in  instinct.      They  work  with 


70  POTTERY   AND    PORCELAIN. 

metallic  colours  only.  They  rely  on  copper,  for  instance, 
to  give  black  and  green,  on  iron  to  yield  red  hues,  and  so 
on ;  and  the  gold  work  is  done  with  what  seems  to  be  a 
dirty  brown  paste,  but  is  really  pure  gold  mixed  with  flux 
and  quicksilver.  When  the  first  wash  is  put  on,  the  piece 
must  be  fired,  so  that  the  colours  shall  be  burnt  into  the 
glaze.  Then  it  returns  to  the  painter,  who  adds  the  next 
touches  so  far  as  he  can  ;  the  firing  again  follows  ;  the  piece 
is  returned  to  him  once  more ;  and  so  on  it  goes  till  the 
work  is  complete. 

It  is  therefore  a  highly  technical  business,  especially  as 
the  colours  change  very  much  in  the  fire,  and  the  painter 
has  to  work  with  full  knowledge  of  the  chemical  processes 
in  every  firing.  There  is  one  form  of  the  decorative  pro- 
cess which  is  very  singular — that  is,  the  piercing  work. 
The  artist  has  the  vase  in  the  dried  state  before  the  firing, 
and  with  a  tiny,  sharp-pointed  knife  he  cuts  out  little  pieces 
according  to  the  design  in  his  mind,  and  produces  an 
extremely  beautiful  perforated  ware,  the  elaborate  pattern 
and  the  lace-like  delicacy  of  which  almost  repel  the  idea 
that  the  work  is  done  by  the  unaided  hand  of  man.  In 
the  colour  processes,  the  work  is  virtually  complete  when 
the  dull  gold  has  been  burnished;  and  the  porcelain  is 
then  ready  to  be  transferred  to  the  showrooms,  or  exported 
to  America,  which  is  the  greatest  patron,  at  present,  of 
Worcester  art.  America,  however,  failed  to  retain  one 
lovely  vase  no  less  than  four  feet  high,  the  largest  ever 
made  in  the  works  ;  it  was  taken  to  the  Chicago  Exhibition 
and  back  without  accident,  and  was  then  sold  in  England 
for  one  thousand  pounds. 

It  is  important  to  remember  the  distinction  between 
'pottery'  and  'porcelain:'  the  porcelain  is  clay  purified 
by  the  fire,  whereas  pottery  leaves  the  oven  as  it  entered 
it — clay.  The  purification  of  the  ware  is  really  an  illus- 
tration of  the  process  which  sustains  the  artistic  inspiration 


WORCESTER    PORCELAIN. 


71 


of  the  work.  The  gross,  the  vulgar,  the  mean  are  elimin- 
ated; a  standard  of  beauty  is  set  up,  and  to  it  every 
article  must  conform.  It  is  to  this  ideal,  sustained  by 
a  long  succession  of  artists  through  a  century  and  a  half, 
that  Worcester  owes  its  world-wide  reputation  as  the  birth- 
place of  some  of  the  loveliest  porcelain  ever  burnt  in  a 
kiln. 


Chinese  Porcelain  Vase. 


CHAPTER    III. 


THE  SEWING-MACHINE. 

Thomas  Saint — Thimonnier — Hunt — Elias  Howe — Wilson — 
Morey — Singer. 

LTHOUGH  the  sewing-machine  has  not  put 
an  end  to  the  slavery  of  the  needle,  and 
although  '  The  Song  of  the  Shirt '  may  be 
heard  to  the  accompaniment  of  its  click  and 
whirr,  just  as  it  was  to  the  '  stitch,  stitch '  of 
Tom  Hood's  time,  yet  has  it  unquestionably  come  as 
a  boon  and  a  blessing  to  man — and  woman.  Its  name 
now  i&^legjon,  and  it  has  had  so  many  invejntors  ancPiffi- 
provers  that  the  present  generation  is  fast  losing  sight  of 
its_origmal  benefactors.  Indeed,  we  take  the  sewing- 
machine  to-day  as  an  accomplished  fact  so  familiar  as  to 
be  commonplace.  And  yet  that  fact  is  a  product  of  as 
moving  a  history  as  any  in  the  story  of  human  invention. 

It  is  the  growth  of  the  last  half-century,  prior  to  which 
the  real  sewing-machine  was  the  heavy-eyed,  if  not  tireless, 
needlewoman,  whose  flying  fingers  seemed  ever  in  vain 
pursuit  of  the  flying  hours.  Needlework  is  as  old  as 
human  history,  for  we  may  see  the  beginnings  of  it  in  the 
aprons  of  fig-leaves  which  Mother  Eve  sewed.  What 
instrument  she  used  we  know  not,  but  we  do  know  from 
Moses  that  needles  were  in  use  when  the  tabernacle  was 


THOMAS    SAINT.  73 

built.  Yet,  strange  to  say,  it  was  not  until  the  middle  of 
last  century  that  any  one  tried  to  supersede  manual  labour 
in  the  matter  of  stitching.  It  is  said  that  a  German  tailor, 
named  Charles  Frederick  Weisenthal,  was  the  first  to 
attempt  it,  but  for  hand-embroidery  only — with  a  double- 
pointed  needle,  eyed  in  the  middle.  This  was  in  1755, 
anci  fifty  years  later,  one  John  Duncan,  a  Glasgow 
machinist,  worked  out  Weisenthal's  idea  into  a  genuine 
embroidering  machine,  which  really  held  the  germ  of  the 
idea  of  the  'loop-stitch.'  But  neither  of  these  was  a 
sewing-machine,  and  before  Duncan's  invention  some  one 
else  had  been  seized  with  another  idea. 

This  was  a  London  cabinetmaker  called  Thomas  Saint, 
who  in  or  about  1790  took  out  a  patent  for  a  machine  for 
sewing  leather,  or  rather  for  '  quilting,  stitching,  and 
making  shoes,  boots,  spatterdashes,  clogs,  and  other 
articles.'  This  patent,  unfortunately,  was  taken  out  along 
with  other  inventions  in  connection  with  leather,  and  it 
was  quite  by  accident  that,  some  eighty  years  later,  the 
specification  of  it  was  discovered  by  one  who  had  made 
for  himself  a  name  in  connection  with  sewing-machines. 
Even  the  Patent  Office  did  not  seem  to  have  known  of  its 
existence,  yet  now  it  is  clear  enough  that  Thomas  Saint's 
leather-sewing-machine  of  1790  was  the  first  genuine  sew- 
ing-machine ever  constructed,  and  that  it  was  on  what  is 
now  known  as  the  ■  chain-stitch '  principle.  Rude  as  it 
was,  it  is  declared  by  experts  to  have  anticipated  most  of 
the  ingenious  ideas  of  half  a  century  of  successive  in- 
ventors, not  one  of  whom,  however,  could  in  all  human 
probability  have  as  much  as  heard  of  Saint's  machine. 
This  is  not  the  least  curious  incident  in  the  history  of  the 
sewing-machine. 

In  Saint's  machine  the  features  are — the  overhanging 
arm,  which  is  the  characteristic  of  many  modern  machines ; 
the  perpendicular  action  of  the  Singer  machine ;  the  eye- 


74  THE    SEWING-MACHINE. 

pointed  needle  of  the  Howe  machine  ;  the  pressure  surfaces 
peculiar  to  the  Howe  machine ;  and  a  '  feed '  system 
equal  to  that  of  the  most  modern  inventions.  Whether 
Saint's  machine  was  ever  worked  in  a  practical  workshop 
or  not,  it  was  unquestionably  a  practicable  machine,  con- 
structed by  one  who  knew  pretty  well  what  he  was  about, 
and  what  he  wanted  to  achieve. 

Now  note  the  date  of  Thomas  Saint's  patent  (1790), 
and  next  note  the  date  of  the  invention  of  Barthelmy 
Thimonnier,  of  St  Etienne,  who  is  claimed  in  France  as 
the  inventor  of  the  sewing-machine.  In  1830,  Thimonnier 
constructed  a  machine,  principally  of  wood,  with  an 
arrangement  of  barbed  needles,  for  stitching  gloves,  and 
in  the  following  year  he  began  business  in  Paris,  with  a 
partner,  as  an  army  clothier.  The  firm  of  Thimonnier,  Petit, 
&  Co.,  however,  did  not  thrive,  because  the  workpeople 
thought  they  saw  in  the  principal's  machine  an  instrument 
destined  to  ruin  them  j  much  as  the  Luddites  viewed  steam- 
machinery  in  the  cotton  districts  of  England.  An  idea  of 
that  sort  rapidly  germinates  heat,  and  Thimonnier's  work- 
shop was  one  day  invaded  by  an  angry  mob,  who  smashed 
all  the  machines,  and  compelled  the  inventor  to  seek 
safety  in  flight.  Poor  Thimonnier  was  absent  from  Paris 
for  three  years,  but  in  1834  returned  with  another  and 
more  perfect  machine.  This  was  so  coldly  received,  both 
by  employers  and  workmen  in  the  tailoring  trade,  that  he 
left  the  capital,  and,  journeying  through  France  with  his 
machine,  paid  his  way  by  exhibiting  it  in  the  towns  and 
villages  as  a  curiosity.  After  a  few  years,  however,  Thi- 
monnier fell  in  with  a  capitalist  who  believed  in  him  and 
his  machine,  and  was  willing  to  stake  money  on  both.  A 
partnership  was  entered  into  for  the  manufacture  and  sale 
of  the  machine,  and  all  promised  well  for  the  new  firm, 
when  the  Revolution  of  1848  broke  out,  stopped  the 
business,  and  ruined  both  the  inventor  and  the  capitalist. 


ELIAS    HOWE.  75 

Thimonnier  died  in  1857,  in  a  poorhouse,  of  a  broken 
heart. 

This  French  machine  was  also  on  the  chain-stitch  prin- 
ciple, but  it  was  forty  years  later  than  Saint's.  In  between 
the  two  came,  about  1832,  one  Walter  Hunt,  of  New 
York,  who  is  said  to  have  constructed  a  sewing-machine 
with  the  lock-stitch  movement.  Some  uncertainty  sur- 
rounds this  claim,  and  Elias  Howe  is  the  person  usually 
credited  with  this  important,  indeed  invaluable  invention. 
Whether  Howe  had  ever  seen  Hunt's  machine,  we  know 
not ;  but  Hunt's  machine  was  never  patented,  seems  never 
to  have  come  into  practical  working,  and  is,  indeed,  said 
to  have  been  unworkable.  There  is,  besides,  in  the 
Polytechnic  at  Vienna,  the  model  of  a  machine,  dated 
18 14,  constructed  by  one  Joseph  Madersberg,  a  tailor  of 
the  Tyrol,  which  embodies  the  lock-stitch  idea — working 
with  two  threads.  But  this  also  was  unworkable,  and 
Elias  Howe  has  the  credit  of  having  produced  the  first 
really  practical  lock-stitch  sewing-machine. 

His  was  a  life  of  vicissitude  and  of  ultimate  triumph, 
both  in  fame  and  fortune.  He  was  born  at  a  small  place 
in  Massachusetts  in  18 19,  and  as  a  youth  went  to  Boston, 
there  to  work  as  a  mechanic.  While  there,  and  when 
about  twenty-two  years  old,  the  idea  occurred  to  him  at 
his  work  of  passing  a  thread  through  cloth  and  securing  it 
on  the  other  side  by  another  thread.  Here  we  perceive 
the  germ  of  the  lock-stitch — the  two  threads.  Howe 
began  to  experiment  with  a  number  of  bent  wires  in  lieu 
of  needles,  but  he  lacked  the  means  to  put  his  great  idea 
to  a  thorough  practical  test.  Thus  it  slumbered  for  three 
years,  when  he  went  to  board  and  lodge  with  an  old 
schoolfellow  named  Fisher,  who,  after  a  while,  agreed  to 
advance  Howe  one  hundred  pounds  in  return  for  a  half 
share  in  the  invention  should  it  prove  a  success.  Thus 
aided,  in   1845    Howe  completed  his  first  machine,  and 


76  THE    SEWING-MACHINE. 

actually  made  himself  a  suit  of  clothes  with  it;  and  this 
would  be  just  about  the  time  of  Thimonnier's  temporary 
prosperity  in  alliance  with  the  capitalist,  Mogrini. 

i^  Feeling  sure  of  his  ground,  Howe  took  bold  steps  to 
'  'boom'  his  invention.  He  challenged  five  of  the  most 
expert  sewers  in  a  great  Boston  clothing  factory  to  a 
sewing  match.  Each  of  them  was  to  sew  a  certain  strip  of 
cloth,  and  Howe  undertook  to  sew  five  strips,  torn  in 
halves,  before  each  man  had  completed  his  one  strip.  The 
arrangements  completed,  the  match  began,  and  to  the 
wonder  of  everybody,  Howe  finished  his  five  seams  before 
the  others  were  half  done  with  one  seam.  But  murmurs 
instead  of  cheers  succeeded  the  victory.  He  was  angrily 
reproached  for  trying  to  take  the  bread  out  of  the  mouth 
of  the  honest  working-man,  and  a  cry  was  raised  among 
the  workers  (as  it  has  been  heard  time  and  again  in  the 
history  of  industrial  development)  to  smash  the  machine. 
Howe,  indeed,  had  much  difficulty  in  escaping  from  the 
angry  mob,  with  his  precious  machine  under  his  arm. 

■-""^  In  Howe's  experience  we  thus  see  one  parallel  with 
Thimonnier's ;  but  there  was  another.  The  American 
was  quite  as  poor  and  resourceless  as  the  Frenchman,  and 
the  next  step  in  Howe's  career  was  that  he  went  on  tour  to 
the  country  fairs  to  exhibit  his  machine  for  a  trifling  fee,  in 
order  to  keep  body  and  soul  together.  People  went  in 
flocks  to  see  the  thing  as  a  clever  toy,  but  no  one  would 
'take  hold'  of  it  as  a  practical  machine.  And  so,  in 
despair  of  doing  any  good  with  it  in  America,  Elias  Howe, 
in  1846,  sent  his  brother  to  England  to  see  if  a  market 
could  not  be  found  for  the  invention  there.  The  brother 
succeeded  in  making  terms  with  one  William  Thomas, 
staymaker,  in  Cheapside,  London,  and  he  sent  for  Elias  to 
come  over. 

The  price  to  be  paid  by  Thomas  for  the  patent  was  two 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds,  but  Howe  was  to  make  certain 


CHARLES    MOREY.  77 

alterations  in  it  so  as  to  adapt  it  to  the  special  require- 
ments of  the  purchaser.  While  engaged  in  perfecting  the 
machine,  he  was  to  receive  wages  at  the  rate  of  three 
pounds  per  week,  and  this  wage  he  seems  to  have  received 
for  nearly  two  years.  But  he  failed  to  achieve  what 
Thomas  wanted,  and  Thomas,  after  spending  a  good  deal 
of  money  over  the  experiments,  abandoned  the  thing  alto- 
gether. Howe  was  thus  astrand  again,  and  he  returned 
to  America  as  poor  as  ever,  leaving  his  machine  behind 
him  in  pawn  for  advances  to  pay  his  passage  home.  And 
yet  there  were  'millions  in  it.' 

This  was  in  the  year  1849,  an(^  Jllst  about  the  time 
when  Howe  was  returning  to  America,  another  American, 
named  Bostvvich,  was  sending  over  to  England  a  machine 
which  he  had  invented  for  imitating  hand-stitching,  by 
means  of  cog-wheels  and  a  bent  needle.  And  a  year  or 
two  after  Howe's  return,  one  Charles  Morey,  of  Man- 
chester, attempted  to  carry  out  the  same  stitch  on  a  some- 
what different  plan,  but  failed  to  find  sufficient  pecuniary 
support.  Indeed,  poor  Morey  had  a  tragic  end,  for, 
taking  his  machine  to  Paris  in  the  hope  of  finding  a 
purchaser  there,  he  incurred  some  debt  which  he  could 
not  pay,  and  was  clapped  into  the  Mazas  prison.  While 
there,  he  inadvertently  broke  the  rules,  and  was  shot  by 
the  guard  for  failing  to  reply  to  a  challenge  which  he  did 
not  understand. 

When  Howe  got  back  to  the  United  States,  he  found  a 
number  of  ingenious  persons  engaged  in  producing  or 
experimenting  in  sewing-machines,  and  some  of  them  were 
trenching  on  his  own  patent  rights.  He  raised  enough 
money,  somehow,  to  redeem  his  pawned  machine  in 
England,  and  then  raised  actions  against  all  who  were 
infringing  it.  The  litigation  was  tremendous  both  in 
duration  and  expense,  but  it  ended  in  the  victory  of  Elias 
Howe,   to   whom,  by  the  finding  of  the  court,   the  other 


78  THE    SEWING-MACHINE. 

patentees  were  found  liable  for  royalty.  It  is  said  that 
Howe,  who  as  we  have  seen  left  London  in  debt,  received, 
before  his  patent  expired  in  1867,  upwards  of  two  million 
dollars  in  royalties  alone. 

But  ingenious  men  were  now  busy  in  both  hemispheres 
in  perfecting  what,  up  till  about  fifty  years  ago,  was  regarded 
as  nothing  better  than  a  clever  toy.  Besides  Morey,  the 
Manchester  man  we  have  mentioned,  a  Huddersfield 
machinist,  named  Drake,  brought  out  a  machine  to  work 
with  a  shuttle.  About  the  same  time,  or  a  little  later,  a 
young  Nottingham  man,  named  John  Fisher,  constructed 
a  machine  with  a  sort  of  lock-stitch  movement,  which  he 
afterwards  adapted  to  a  double  loop-stitch.  But  Fisher's 
machine  was  intended  rather  for  embroidering  than  for 
plain  sewing. 

Passing  over  some  minor  attempts,  the  next  great 
development  was  that  of  Allen  Wilson,  who,  without 
having  heard  either  of  Howe's  or  of  any  other  machine, 
constructed  one  in  1849,  the  design  of  which,  he  said,  he 
had  been  meditating  for  two  years.  His  first  machine  had 
original  features,  however  much  it  may  have  been  antici- 
pated in  principle  by  Howe's  patent.  In  Wilson's  second 
design,  a  rotary  hook  was  substituted  for  a  two-pointed 
shuttle,  and  by  other  improvements  he  achieved  a  greater 
speed  than  had  been  attained  by  other  inventors.  Later 
still,  he  added  the  '  four-motion  feed,'  which  is  adopted  on 
most  of  the  machines  now  in  general  use. 

This  idea  was  an  elaboration  of  a  principle  which  seems 
to  have  first  occurred  to  the  unfortunate  Morey.  In 
Morey's  machine  there  was  a  horizontal  bar  with  short 
teeth,  which  caught  the  fabric  and  dragged  it  forward  as 
the  stitches  were  completed.  It  took  nearly  thirty  years, 
however,  to  evolve  the  perfect  'feed'  motion  out  of 
Morey's  first  crude  germ. 

While   Wilson   was   working  away,   perfecting   his  now 


THE    SINGER    MACHINE.  79 

famous  machine,  an  observing  and  thoughtful  young 
millwright  was  employed  in  a  New  York  factory.  One 
day  a  sewing-machine  was  sent  in  for  repairs,  and  after 
examining  its  mechanism,  this  young  man,  whose  name 
was  Isaac  Singer,  confidently  expressed  his  belief  that  he 
could  make  a  better  one.  He  did  not  propose  either  to 
appropriate  or  abandon  the  principle,  but  to  improve  upon 
it.  Instead  of  a  curved  needle,  as  in  Howe's  and  Wilson's 
machines,  he  adopted  a  straight  one,  and  gave  it  a  perpen- 
dicular instead  of  a  curvular  motion.  And  for  propelling 
the  fabric  he  introduced  a  wheel,  instead  of  the  toothed 
bar  of  the  Morey  design. 

It  need  hardly  be  said  that  the  Singer  machine  is  now 
one  of  the  most  widely  known,  and  is  turned  out  in  count- 
less numbers  in  enormous  factories  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic.  It  is  not  so  well  known,  perhaps,  that  Singer, 
who  was  a  humble  millwright  in  1850,  and  who  died  in 
1875,  left  an  estate  valued  at  three  millions  sterling — all 
amassed  in  less  than  twenty-five  years  ! 

The  machines  of  Howe,  Wilson,  and  Singer  were  on 
the  lock-stitch  principle,  and  the  next  novelty  was  the 
invention  of  Groyer  and  Baker^3±Lobrouglit-out-a  machine 
working  with  two  needles  and  two  continuous  threads. 
After  this  came  the  Gibbs  machine,  the  story  of  which 
may  be_briefly  told. 

About  the  year  1855,  James  G.  Gibbs  heard  of  the 
Grover  and  Baker  machine"^"  and  having  a  turn  for 
mechanics,  began  to  ponder  over  how  the  action  described 
was  produced.  He  got  an  illustration,  but  could  make 
nothing  of  it,  and  not  for  a  year  did  he  obtain  sight  of  a 
Singer  machine  at  work.  As  in  the  case  of  Singer  with 
Wilson's  machine,  so  Gibbs  thought  he  could  improve 
on  Singer's,  and  turn  out  one  less  ponderous  and  com- 
plicated. He  set  to  work,  and  in  a  very  short  time 
took  out  a  patent  for  a  new  lock-stitch  machine.     But  he 


80  THE    SEWING-MACHINE. 

was  not  satisfied  with  this,  and  experimented  away,  with 
an  idea  of  making  a  chain-stitch  by  means  of  a  revolving 
looper.  This  idea  he  eventually  put  into  practical  form, 
and  took  out  a  patent  for  the  first  chain-stitch  sewing- 
machine. 

Since  the  days  of  Elias  Howe,  the  number  of  patents 
taken  out  for  sewing-machines  has  been  legion — certainly 
not  less  than  one  thousand — and  probably  no  labour-saving 
appliance  has  received  more  attention  at  the  hands  both  of 
inventors  and  of  the  general  public.  There  is  scarcely  a 
household  in  the  land  now,  however  humble,  without  a 
sewing-machine  of  some  sort,  and  in  factories  and  ware- 
houses they  are  to  be  numbered  by  the  thousand.  Some- 
machinists  have  directed  their  ingenuity  to  the  reduction 
of  wear  and  tear,  others  to  the  reduction  of  noise,  others 
to  acceleration  of  speed,  others  to  appliances  for  supplying 
the  machine  in  a  variety  of  ways,  others  for  adapting  it  to 
various  complicated  processes  of  stitching  and  embroider- 
ing. Some  users  prefer  the  lock-stitch,  and  some  the 
chain-stitch  principle,  and  each  system  has  its  peculiar 
advantages  according  to  the  character  of  the  work  to  be 
sewn. 

A  recent  development  is  a  combination  of  both  prin- 
ciples in  one  machine.  Mr  Edward  Kohler  patented  a 
machine  which  will  produce  either  a  lock-stitch  or  a 
chain-stitch,  as  may  be  desired,  and  an  embroidery  stitch 
as  well.  By  a  very  ingenious  contrivance  the  machinery 
is  altered  by  the  simple  movement  of  a  button,  and  (when 
the  chain-stitch  is  required)  the  taking  out  of  the  bobbin 
from  the  shuttle.  If  the  embroidery  stitch  is  wanted, 
the  button  is  turned  without  removing  the  bobbin,  and  the 
lock-stitch  and  chain-stitch  are  combined  in  one  new 
stitch,  with  which  very  elaborate  effects  can  be  produced. 
It  is  said  that  the  Kohler  principle  can  be  easily  adapted 
to  all,  or  most,  existing  machines. 


CHAPTER    IV. 
WOOL    AND    COTTON. 

Wool. — What  is  Wool  ? — Chemical  Composition — Fibre — Antiquity 
of  Shepherd  Life — Varieties  of  Sheep — Introduction  into  Australia 
— Spanish  Merino — Wool  Wealth  of  Australia — Imports  and 
Exports  of  Wool  and  Woollen  Produce — Woollen  Manufacture. 

Cotton. —  Cotton  Plant  in  the  East — Mandeville's  Fables  about 
Cotton — Cotton  in  Persia,  Arabia,  and  Egypt — Columbus  finds 
Cotton-yarn  and  Thread  in  1492 — In  Africa — Manufacture  of  Cloth 
in  England — The  American  Cotton  Plant. 


WOOL. 

HAT  is  wool  ?  '  The  covering  of  the  sheep, 
of  course,'  replies  somebody.  Yes  ;  but  what 
is  it  ?  Let  us  ask  Professor  Owen.  '  Wool/ 
he  says,  Ms  a  peculiar  modification  of  hair, 
characterised  by  fine  transverse  or  oblique 
lines  from  two  to  four  thousand  in  the  extent  of  an  inch, 
indicative  of  a  minutely  imbricated  scaly  surface,  when 
viewed  under  the  microscope,  on  which  and  on  its  curved 
or  twisted  form  depends  its  remarkable  felting  property.' 
At  first  sight  this  definition  seems  bewildering,  but  it  will 
bear  examination,  and  is  really  more  tangible  than,  for 
instance,  Noah  Webster's  definition  of  wool :  '  That  soft 
curled  or  crisped  species  of  hair  which  grows  on  sheep 
and  some  other  animals,  and  which  in  fineness  sometimes 
approaches  to  fur.'      It  is  usually  that  which  grows  on 

F 


4q\ 


WOOL.  83 

sheep,  however,  that  we  know  as  wool,  and  the  number 
of  imbrications,  serratures,  or  notches  indicates  the  quality 
of  the  fibre.  Thus,  in  the  wool  of  the  Leicester  sheep 
there  are  1850  —  in  Spanish  merino,  2400  —  in  Saxon 
merino,  2700,  to  an  inch,  and  the  fewer  there  are  the 
nearer  does  wool  approach  to  hair. 

Here  is  a  still  more  minute  description  by  Youatt, 
a  great  authority  on  wool  :  '  It  consists  of  a  central 
stem  or  stalk,  probably  hollow,  or  at  least  porous,  and  pos- 
sessing a  semi-transparency,  found  in  the  fibre  of  the  hair. 
From  this  central  stalk  there  springs,  at  different  distances 
in  different  breeds  of  sheep,  a  circlet  of  leaf-shaped  projec- 
tions. In  the  finer  species  of  wool  these  circles  seemed 
at  first  to  be  composed  of  one  indicated  or  serrated  ring ; 
but  when  the  eye  was  accustomed  to  them,  this  ring  was 
resolvable  into  leaves  or  scales.  In  the  larger  kinds,  the 
ring  was  at  once  resolvable  into  these  scales  or  leaves, 
varying  in  number,  shape,  and  size,  and  projecting  at 
different  angles  from  the  stalk,  and  in  the  direction  of 
the  leaves  of  vegetables — that  is,  from  the  root  to  the 
point.     They  give  to  the  wool  the  power  of  felting.' 

This  is  the  estimate  of  the  chemical  composition  of 
good  wool:  Carbon,  50-65;  hydrogen,  7-03;  nitrogen, 
i7«7i;  oxygen  and  sulphur,  24-61.  Out  of  a  hundred 
parts,  ninety-eight  would  be  organic,  and  two  would  be 
ash,  consisting  of  oxide  of  iron,  sulphate  of  lime,  phosphate 
of  lime,  and  magnesia.  What  is  called  the  '  yolk  '  of  wool 
is  a  compound  of  oil,  lime,  and  potash.  It  makes  the  pile 
soft  and  pliable,  and  is  less  apparent  on  English  sheep 
than  on  those  of  warmer  countries,  the  merino  sheep 
having  the  most  'yolk.' 

The  fibre  of  wool  varies  in  diameter,  the  Saxon  merino 
measuring  y^o  of  an  inch,  and  the  Southdown,  TTV<7- 
Lustrous  wool,  it  is  said,  should  be  long  and  strong ;  but 
if  it  is  very  fine  it  is  not  long.     Strong  wool  may  be  as 


84  WOOL   AND   COTTON. 

much  as  twenty  inches  in  length.  The  wool  of  the  best 
sheep  adheres  closely,  and  can  only  be  removed  by 
shearing;  but  there  are  varieties  of  sheep  which  shed 
their  wool,  as,  for  instance,  the  Persian,  which  drop  the 
whole  of  their  fleeces  between  January  and  May,  when 
feeding  on  the  new  grass. 

This,  then,  is  wool,  the  first  use  of  which  for  cloth- 
making  is  lost  in  antiquity.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the 
pastoral  industry  is  the  oldest  industry  in  the  world ; 
for  even  when  the  fruits  of  the  earth  could  be  eaten 
without  tillage  and  without  labour,  the  flocks  and  herds 
required  care  and  attention.  The  shepherd  may  be 
regarded  as  the  earliest  pioneer  of  industry,  as  he  has 
been  for  centuries  the  centre  of  fanciful  romance,  and 
the  personification  of  far  from  romantic  fact.  The  old 
legend  of  Jason  and  the  Golden  Fleece  is  in  itself  evidence 
of  the  antiquity  of  the  knowledge  of  the  value  of  wool;  and 
much  as  the  mythologists  make  out  of  the  legend,  there 
are  some  who  hold  that  it  merely  is  meant  to  record  how 
the  Greeks  imported  a  superior  kind  of  sheep  from  the 
Caucasus  and  made  money  thereby. 

Australia  is  now  the  land  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  and 
millions  of  money  have  been  made  there  out  of  the 
docile  sheep.  It  is  not  indigenous,  of  course,  to  the 
land  of  the  Southern  Cross,  where  the  only  mammal 
known  when  Europeans  discovered  it  was  the  kangaroo. 
Mr  James  Bonwick,  a  gentleman  well  known  in  Australian 
literature,  gathered  together  many  records  of  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  sheep  into  Australia,  and  of  the  marvellous 
development  of  the  pastoral  industry  there  in  his  very 
interesting  book,  The  Romance  of  the  Wool-trade. 

But,  first,  as  to  the  different  kinds  of  sheep.  The 
Bighorn  is  the  wild-sheep  of  Kamchatka,  and  it  may  be 
taken  for  granted  that  all  species  of  the  domestic  sheep 
were  at  one  time  wild,  or  are  descended  from  wild  tribes. 


WOOL.  85 

When  the  Aryan  Hindus  invaded  India,  it  is  recorded  that 
they  took  their  flocks  with  them ;  but  whether  the  wild- 
sheep  still  to  be  found  on  the  hills  of  Northern  India  are 
the  descendants  of  wanderers  from  these  flocks,  or 
descendants  of  the  progenitors  of  them,  we  do  not  pre- 
tend to  say. 

Chief  among  the  domesticated  sheep  of  the  British  Isles 
is  the  Southdown,  whose  characteristics  used  to  be — 
although  we  are  told  they  are  changed  somewhat  now — 
thin  chine,  low  fore-end,  and  rising  backbone,  a  small 
hornless  head,  speckled  face,  thin  lips,  woolled  ears, 
and  bright  eyes.  The  wool  should  '  be  short,  close, 
curled,  fine,  and  free  from  spiry  projecting  fibres.'  Then 
there  are  the  Romney  Marsh,  the  Cotswold,  the  Lincoln, 
the  Leicester,  and  the  Hardwick  sheep,  each  with  its 
distinctive  marks  and  value.  The  Welsh  sheep  have 
long  necks,  high  shoulders,  narrow  breasts,  long  bushy 
tails,  and  small  bones;  the  wool  is  not  first  class,  but 
the  mutton  is  excellent.  The  Irish  native  sheep  are  of 
two  kinds,  the  short-woolled  and  long-woolled  ;  but  South- 
downs  and  Leicesters  have  been  so  long  crossed  with  them 
that  their  idiosyncrasies  are  no  longer  marked.  The  Shet- 
land sheep  are  supposed  to  have  come  from  Denmark,  but 
have  also  been  crossed  with  English  and  Scotch  varieties. 
In  Scotland,  the  Cheviot  and  the  Blackfaced  are  the  two 
ruling  types.  The  Cheviot  is  a  very  handsome  animal, 
with  long  body,  white  face,  small  projecting  eyes,  and 
well-formed  legs.  The  wool  is  excellent,  as  the  '  tweed  '- 
makers  of  the  Border  know,  but  is  not  so  soft  as  that  of 
the  English  Southdowns.  The  Blackfaced  is  the  familiar 
form  we  see  in  the  Highlands,  supposed  to  have  come 
originally  'from  abroad,' but  now  regarded  as  the  native 
sheep  of  Scotland.  It  is  a  hardy  animal,  accustomed  to 
rough  food  and  rough  weather,  with  a  fine  deep  chest, 
broad  back,  slender  legs,  attractive  face,  and  picturesque 


86  WOOL   AND    COTTON. 

horns.  The  wool  is  not  so  good  as  that  of  the  Cheviot 
variety,  but  the  mutton  is  better.  Of  course,  English 
varieties  have  been  largely  crossed  with  the  two  native 
Scotch  kinds ;  yet  these  still  remain  distinct,  and  are 
easily  recognisable. 

As  long  ago  as  the  time  of  the  Emperor  Constantine, 
the  wool  of  English  sheep  had  a  high  reputation,  and  had 
even  then  found  its  way  to  Rome.  Of  English  monarch s, 
Edward  III.  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  endeavour  to 
stimulate  the  pastoral  industry  by  the  manufacture  of 
woollen  cloths  and  the  export  of  raw  wool.  But  Henry 
VIII.  thought  that  sheep-breeding  had  been  carried  too 
far,  and  the  farmers  were  making  too  much  money  out  of 
it ;  so  he  decreed  that  no  one  should  keep  more  than  two 
thousand  four  hundred  sheep  at  one  time,  and  that  no  man 
should  be  allowed  to  occupy  more  than  two  farms.  In 
the  time  of  Charles  II.  the  export  of  both  sheep  and  wool 
was  strictly  prohibited.  As  late  as  1788,  there  were 
curious  prohibitory  enactments  with  reference  to  sheep ; 
and  the  date  is  interesting,  because  it  was  the  date  of  the 
settlement  of  New  South  Wales.  There  was  a  fine  of 
three  pounds  upon  the  carrying  off  of  any  sheep  from  the 
British  Isles,  except  for  use  on  board  ship  ;  and  even 
between  the  islands  and  the  mainland  of  Scotland,  or 
across  a  tidal  river,  sheep  could  not  be  transported 
without  a  special  permit  and  the  execution  of  a  bond 
that  the  animals  were  not  for  exportation.  Indeed,  no 
sheep  could  be  shorn  within  five  miles  of  the  sea-coast 
without  the  presence  of  a  revenue  officer,  to  see  that  the 
law  was  not  evaded. 

It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that  the  first  sheep  settled  in 
Australia — the  only  great  pastoral  country  that  has  never 
had  a  native  variety — did  not  go  from  England.  It  is 
very  curious  that  in  Australia,  New  Zealand,  and  Tasmania, 
where  now  lies  a  great  portion  of  the  pastoral  wealth  of 


WOOL.  87 

the  world,  there  never  was  any  animal  in  the  smallest 
degree  resembling  a  sheep  until  some  enterprising  Britons 
took  it  there. 

The  first  sheep  introduced  into  Australia  were  from  the 
Cape  and  from  India.  The  ships  which  went  out  with 
the  convicts  of  1788  had  a  few  sheep  on  board  for  the 
officers'  mess,  which  were  presumably  consumed  before 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  was  reached.  There,  some 
animals  were  procured  for  the  new  settlement.  The 
Cape  at  the  time  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Dutch,  who 
had  large  flocks  of  sheep  and  immense  herds  of  cattle. 
The  sheep  they  had  were  not  imported  from  Europe,  but 
were  the  native  breed  they  had  found  in  the  hands  of  the 
aborigines  when  the  Dutch  colony  was  founded  one 
hundred  and  thirty  years  previously. 

The  native  African  sheep  is  of  the  fat-tail  kind.  Wool 
was  not  then  an  item  of  wealth  in  the  Dutch  colony ;  but 
the  fat  tails  were  appreciated  as  an  excellent  substitute  for 
butter.  All  over  Africa  and  over  a  large  part  of  Asia, 
varieties  of  the  fat-tail  species  are  still  to  be  found. 
In  Tibet  they  abound ;  and  the  Turcomans  have  vast 
flocks  of  them.  But  Tibet  has  also  other  varieties, 
and  notably  one  very  like  the  llama  of  Peru,  with  a  very 
soft  and  most  useful  fleece,  providing  the  famous  Tibetan 
wool.  In  Palestine  and  Syria  the  fat- tail  sheep  is  abun- 
dant ;  and  of  the  Palestine  breed  it  is  recorded  that  they 
'  have  a  monstrous  round  of  fat,  like  a  cushion,  in  place  of 
the  tail,  which  sometimes  weighs  thirty  or  forty  pounds. 
The  wool  of  this  sheep  is  coarse,  much  tangled,  and  felted, 
and  mixed  with  coarse  dark-coloured  hair.' 

Although  the  first  sheep  taken  to  Australia  were  from 
the  Cape,  the  most  important  of  the  earlier  consignments 
were  from  India,  the  nearest  British  possession  to  the  new 
colony.  Indeed,  for  over  thirty  years  Australia  was  eccle- 
siastically within  the  see  of  the  Bishop  of  Calcutta,  and 


88  WOOL   AND    COTTON. 

letters  to  England  usually  went  by  way  of  the  Indian 
capital. 

The  Bengalee  sheep  are  described  as  '  small,  lank,  and 
thin,  and  the  colour  of  three-fourths  of  each  flock  is  black 
or  dark  gray.  The  quality  of  the  fleece  is  worse  than  the 
colour ;  it  is  harsh,  thin,  and  wiry  to  a  very  remarkable 
degree,  and  ordinarily  weighs  but  half  a  pound.'  Not  a 
very  promising  subject,  one  would  think,  for  the  Australian 
pastures,  but  the  flesh  was  excellent ;  and  climate  and 
crossing  of  breeds  work  wonders. 

That  which  gave  value  to  the  Australian  breed  of  sheep, 
however,  was  the  introduction  of  the  Spanish  merino, 
which  in  time  found  its  way  to  the  Cape,  and  thence 
to  Australia.  There  is  an  old  tradition  that  the  famous 
merino  sheep  of  Spain  came  originally  from  England ;  but 
it  appears  from  Pliny  and  others  that  Spain  had  a  reputa- 
tion for  fine  wool  long  before  the  Roman  occupation. 
The  Spanish  word  merino  originally  meant  an  inspector  of 
sheepwalks,  and  is  derived  from  the  Low  Latin  majorinus,  a 
steward  of  the  household.  Some  writers  believe  that  the 
merino  came  originally  from  Barbary,  probably  among 
the  flocks  of  the  Moors  when  they  captured  Southern 
Spain.  The  merinos  are  considered  very  voracious,  and 
not  very  prolific ;  they  yield  but  little  milk,  and  are  very 
subject  to  cutaneous  diseases.  Youatt  describes  two 
varieties  of  them  in  Spain,  and  the  wool  is  of  remarkable 
fineness. 

About  the  year  T790,  the  Spanish  merino  began  to  be 
imported  into  the  Cape,  and  a  few  years  later  a  certain 
Captain  Waterhouse  was  sent  from  Sydney  to  Capetown 
to  buy  stock  for  the  colonial  establishment.  He  thought 
the  service  in  which  he  was  engaged  '  almost  a  disgrace  to 
an  officer;'  but  when  he  left  the  Cape  again,  he  brought 
with  him  '  forty-nine  head  of  black-cattle,  three  mares,  and 
one  hundred  and  seven  sheep ' — arriving  at  Port  Jackson 


WOOL.  89 

with  the  loss  of  nine  of  the  cattle  and  about  one-third  of 
the  sheep.  Three  cows,  two  mares,  and  twenty-four  of 
'the  sheep  belonged  to  that  officer,  and  with  this  voyage  he 
founded  not  only  his  own  fortune,  but  also  the  prosperity 
of  the  great  Australian  colony.  Further  importations 
followed ;  and  a  Captain  Macarthur,  early  in  the  present 
century,  went  home  to  London  to  endeavour  to  form 
a  company  to  carry  on  sheep-rearing  on  an  extensive 
scale.  He  did  not  succeed,  and  returned  to  Port  Jackson 
to  pursue  his  enterprise  himself.  Eventually  he  obtained 
the  concession  of  a  few  square  miles  of  land,  and  thus 
became  the  father  of  Australian  'squatting.'  He  located 
himself  on  the  Nepean  River,  to  the  south-west  of  Sydney; 
and  to  his  industry  and  sagacity  is  attributed  in  great  part 
the  origin  of  the  immense  wool-trade  which  has  developed 
between  the  colony  and  the  mother-country. 

And  what  is  now  the  wool  wealth  of  Australasia?  In 
1820  there  were  not  more  than  ten  thousand  sheep  of '  a 
good  sort '  in  New  South  Wales ;  and  in  the  same  year, 
wool  from  the  colony  was  sold  in  London  at  an  average  of 
three  shillings  and  sevenpence  the  pound.  This  led  to 
the  circulation  of  fabulous  reports  of  the  profits  to  be  made 
out  of  sheep  ;  and  there  was  quite  a  run  for  some  years  on 
the  squatting  lots.  In  1848  some  Australians  started 
sheep-running  in  New  Zealand;  and  by  i860  the  sheep 
in  these  islands  had  increased  to  2,400,000.  In  1865 
the  number  there  had  grown  to  5,700,000;  in  1870,  to 
9.500,000;  and  in  1894,  to  19,000,000. 

In  1886  the  pastoral  wealth  of  the  whole  of  the  Austra- 
lian colonies  consisted  of  84,222,272  sheep.  At  only  ten 
shillings  per  head,  this  represents  a  capital  of  over  forty- 
two  millions  sterling,  without  counting  the  value  of  the 
land.     The  number  of  sheep  in  1894  was  over  99,000,000. 

But  now  as  to  the  yield  of  the  flocks.  The  value  of  the 
wool  for  1884  was  .£20,532,429. 


9o 


WOOL    AND    COTTON. 


The  total  importations  of  wool  into  England  in  1885-86 
were  1,819,182  bales,  of  which  no  fewer  than  1,139,842 
bales,  or  nearly  three-fourths  of  the  whole,  came  from 
Australasia.  The  rest  came  from  the  Cape  and  Natal, 
India,  the  Mediterranean,  Russia,  other  European  coun- 
tries, China,  and  the  Falkland  Islands.  The  imports  in 
1894,  from  all  quarters,  consisted  of  705  million  pounds, 
of  a  value  of  ^25,000,000. 

It  would  transcend  the  limits  of  our  space  to  attempt  to 
sketch  the  history  and  growth  of  the  woollen  industry  in 
the  manufacture  of  cloths.  It  is  an  industry,  if  not  as  old 
as  the  hills,  at  least  very  nearly  as  old  as  the  fig-leaves  of 
Eden ;  for  we  may  assume  as  a  certainty  that  the  next 
garments  worn  by  our  forefathers  were  constructed  in 
some  way  from  the  fleecy  coats  of  these  bleating  fol- 
lowers. We  exported  woollen  and  worsted  yarns  of  a 
value  of  over  four  million  pounds  sterling  in  1894,  and  of 
woollen  and  worsted  manufactures,  a  value  of  14  millions 
sterling. 

In  the  middle  ages  all  the  best  wool  was  produced  in 
England,  and  the  woollen  manufacture  centred  in  Norfolk, 
although  both  the  west  of  England  and  Ireland  had  also 
factories.  There  are  in  existence  specimens  of  cloth  made 
in  these  medieval  days  which  show  that  the  quality  of  the 
wool  employed  was  not  equal  to  that  which  we  now  use. 
The  art  of  weaving  is  supposed  to  have  been  brought  from 
the  Netherlands  ;  at  any  rate  there  were  strong  political 
alliances  between  the  English  sovereigns  and  the  weavers 
of  Bruges  and  of  Ghent.  In  these  old  days,  when  Nor- 
wich, Aylsham,  and  Lynn  had  the  lion's  share  of  the 
woollen  trade,  the  great  mart  for  English  and  foreign 
cloths  was  at  Stourbridge,  near  Cambridge,  where  a  fair 
was  held  which  lasted  a  month  every  year. 

There  were  2546  woollen  and  worsted  mills  in  the 
United  Kingdom  in   1890.     The  chief  seats  of  the  wool 


COTTON.  91 

manufacture  in  England  in  the  14th  century  were  Bristol, 
London,  and  Norwich.  Now  Wiltshire  and  Gloucester- 
shire are  famous  for  broadcloths,  while  the  towns  of  Leeds 
and  Huddersfield  in  Yorkshire  are  important  centres. 
Galashiels  and  Hawick  are  noted  for  their  tweeds. 


COTTON. 


The  Father  of  History,  in  writing  about  India — 'the 
last  inhabited  country  towards  the  East' — where  every 
species  of  birds  and  quadrupeds,  horses  excepted,  are 
'  much  larger  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  world,'  and 
where  they  have  also  *  a  great  abundance  of  gold,'  made 
the  following  remarkable  statement.  '  They  possess  like- 
wise,' he  said,  'a  kind  of  plant,  which,  instead  of  fruit, 
produces  wool  of  a  finer  and  better  quality  than  that 
of  the  sheep,  and  of  this  the  natives  make  their  clothes.' 
This  was  the  vegetable  wool  of  the  ancients,  which  many 
learned  authorities  have  identified  with  the  byssus,  in 
bandages  of  cloth  made  from  which  the  old  Egyptians 
wrapped  their  mummies.  But  did  Egypt  receive  the 
cotton  plant  from  India — or  India  from  Egypt — and 
when?  However  that  may  be,  there  is  good  reason  to 
believe  that  cotton  is  the  basis  of  one  of  the  oldest 
industries  in  the  world,  although  we  are  accustomed  to 
think  of  it  as  quite  modern,  and  at  any  rate  as  practically 
unknown  in  Europe  before  the  last  century.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  nevertheless,  cotton  was  being  cultivated  in 
the  south  of  Europe  in  the  13th  century,  although 
whether  the  fibre  was  then  used  for  the  making  of  cloth 
is  not  so  certain.  Its  chief  use  then  seems  to  have  been 
in  the  manufacture  of  paper. 

The  beginning  of  the  Oriental  fable  of  the  Vegetable 
Lamb  is  lost  in  the  dateless  night  of  the  centuries.     When 


92  WOOL    AND    COTTON. 

and  how  it  originated  we  know  not;  but  the  story  of  a 
Plant-Animal  in  Western  Asia  descended  through  the  ages, 
and  passed  from  traveller  to  traveller,  from  historian  to 
historian,  until  in  our  time  the  fable  has  received  a 
practical  verification.  Many  strange  things  were  gravely 
recorded  of  this  Plant- Animal :  as,  that  it  was  a  tree 
bearing  seed-pods,  which,  bursting  when  ripe,  disclosed 
within  little  lambs  with  soft  white  fleeces,  which  Scythians 
used  for  weaving  into  clothing.  Or,  that  it  was  a  real  flesh- 
and-blood  lamb,  growing  upon  a  short  stem  flexible  enough 
to  allow  the  lamb  to  feed  upon  the  surrounding  grass. 

There  were  many  versions  of  the  marvellous  tale  as  it 
reached  Europe  ;  and  the  compiler  and  concocter  of  the 
so-called  Sir  John  Mandeville's  travels,  as  usual,  improved 
upon  it.  He  vouched  for  the  flesh-and-blood  lamb 
growing  out  of  a  plant,  and  declared  that  he  had  both 
seen  and  eaten  it — whereby  the  writer  proved  himself  a 
somewhat  greater  romancer  than  usual.  Nevertheless, 
he  has  a  germ  of  truth  amid  his  lies,  for  he  relates  of 
'Bucharia'  that  .in  the  land  are  'trees  that  bear  wool,  as 
though  it  were  of  sheep,  whereof  men  make  clothes  and 
all  things  that  are  made  of  wool.'  And  again,  of  Abyssinia, 
that  mysterious  kingdom  of  the  renowned  Prester  John, 
he  related  :  '  In  that  country,  and  in  many  others  beyond, 
and  also  in  many  on  this  side,  men  sow  the  seeds  of 
cotton,  and  they  sow  it  every  year ;  and  then  it  grows  into 
small  trees  which  bear  cotton.  And  so  do  men  every 
year,  so  that  there  is  plenty  of  cotton  at  all  times.'  This 
statement,  whencesoever  it  was  borrowed,  may  be  true 
enough,  and  if  so,  is  evidence  that,  eighteen  centuries  after 
Herodotus,  cotton  was  still  being  cultivated,  as  the  basis 
of  a  textile  industry,  both  in  Western  Asia  and  in  Africa. 
It  is  said  that  in  the  Sacred  Books  of  India  there  is 
evidence  that  cotton  was  in  use  for  clothing  purposes 
eight  centuries  before  Christ. 


COTTON.  93 

The  expedition  of  Alexander  the  Great  from  Persia  into 
the  Punjab  was  a  good  deal  later,  say,  three  hundred  and 
thirty  years  before  Christ.  On  the  retreat  down  the  Indus, 
Admiral  Nearchus  remarked  'trees  bearing  as  it  were  flocks 
or  bunches  of  wool,'  of  which  the  natives  made  '  garments 
of  surpassing  whiteness,  or  else  their  black  complexions 
make  the  material  whiter  than  any  other.'  The  Alexan- 
drine general,  Aristobulus,  is  more  precise  :  he  tells  of  a 
wool-bearing  tree  yielding  a  capsule  that  contains  '  seeds 
which  were  taken  out,  and  that  which  remained  was  carded 
like  wool.'  And  long  before  Pliny  referred  to  cotton  in 
Egypt — '  a  shrub  which  men  call  "  gossypium,"  and  others 
"  xylon,"  from  which  stuffs  are  made  which  we  call  xylina ' 
— Strabo  had  noted  the  cultivation  of  the  plant  on  the 
Persian  Gulf. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era  we  find  cotton  in 
cultivation  and  in  use  in  Persia,  Arabia,  and  Egypt — but 
whether  indigenous  to  these  countries,  or  conveyed  west- 
ward during  the  centuries  from  India,  we  know  not. 
Thereafter,  the  westward  spread  was  slow ;  but  the 
plant  is  to  be  traced  along  the  north  coast  of  Africa 
to  Morocco,  which  country  it  seems  to  have  reached 
in  the  9th  century.  The  Moors  took  the  plant,  or 
seeds,  to  Spain,  and  it  was  being  grown  on  the  plains 
of  Valencia  in  the  10th  century;  and  by  the  13th  century 
it  was,  as  we  have  said,  growing  in  various  parts  of 
Southern  Europe. 

Yet,  although  the  Indian  cloths  were  known  to  the 
Greeks  and  Romans  a  century  or  two  before  the  Christian 
era,  and  although  in  the  early  centuries  Arab  traders 
brought  to  the  Red  Sea  ports  Indian  calicoes,  which 
were  distributed  in  Europe,  we  find  cotton  known  in 
England  only  as  material  for  candle-wicks  down  to 
the  17th  century.  At  any  rate,  M'Culloch  is  our 
authority  for  believing  that  the  first   mention   of  cotton 


94  WOOL   AND    COTTON. 

being  manufactured  in  England  is  in  1641;  and  that 
the  '  English  cottons,'  of  which  earlier  mention  may  be 
found,  were  really  woollens. 

And  now  we  come  to  a  very  curious  thing  in  the 
Romance  of  Cotton.  Columbus  discovered — or,  as  some 
say,  rediscovered — America  in  1492;  and  when  he  reached 
the  islands  of  the  Caribbean  Sea,  the  natives  who  came 
off  to  barter  with  him  brought,  among  other  things,  cotton 
yarn  and  thread.  Vasco  da  Gama,  a  few  years  later 
than  Bartholomew  Diaz,  in  1497  rounded  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  and  reached  the  Zanzibar  coast.  There  the 
natives  were  found  to  be  clothed  in  cotton,  just  as 
Columbus  found  the  natives  of  Cuba  to  be,  as  Pizarro 
found  the  Peruvians,  and  as  Cortes  found  the  Mexicans. 
These  Europeans,  proceeding  from  the  Iberian  Peninsula 
east  and  west,  found  the  peoples  of  the  new  worlds  clothed 
with  a  material  of  which  they  knew  nothing.  Cotton  was 
king  in  America,  as  in  Asia,  before  it  began  even  to  be 
known  in  Western  Europe. 

Not  only  that,  but  cotton  must  have  been  cultivated 
in  Africa  at  the  time  when  the  mariners  of  Prince  Henry 
the  Navigator  first  made  their  way  cautiously  down  the 
west  coast.  It  is,  at  any  rate,  upwards  of  four  hundred 
years  since  cotton  cloth  was  brought  from  the  coast 
of  Guinea  and  sold  in  London  as  a  strange  barbaric 
product.  Whether  the  plant  travelled  to  the  Bight  of 
Benin  from  the  land  of  Prester  John,  or  from  the  land 
of  the  Pharaohs,  or  across  from  the  Mozambique  coast, 
where  the  Arabians  are  supposed  to  have  had  settlements 
and  trading  stations  in  prehistoric  days,  who  can  now 
say?  But  it  is  curious  enough  that  when  Africa  was 
discovered  by  Europeans,  the  Dark  Continent  was  actually 
producing  both  the  fibre  and  the  cloth  for  which  African 
labour  and  English  skill  were  afterwards  to  be  needed. 
The  cotton  plantations  of  Southern  America  were  worked 


COTTON.  95 

by  the  negroes  of  Africa  in  order  that  the  cotton-mills 
of  Lancashire  might  be  kept  running.  And  yet  both 
Africa  and  America  made  cotton  cloth  from  the  vegetable 
wool  long  before  we  knew  of  it  otherwise  than  as  a 
traveller's  wonder. 

Even  in  Asia,  the  natural  habitat  of  the  cotton  plant,  the 
story  has  been  curious.  Thus,  according  to  the  records 
above  named,  cotton  has  been  in  use  for  clothing  for  three 
thousand  years  in  India,  and  India  borders  upon  the 
ancient  and  extensive  Empire  of  China.  Yet  cotton  was 
not  used  in  China  for  cloth-making  until  the  coming  of 
the  Tartars,  and  has  been  cultivated  and  manufactured 
there  for  only  about  five  hundred  years.  This  was 
because  of  the  '  vested  interests '  in  wool  and  silk, 
which  combined  to  keep  out  the  vegetable  wool  from 
general  use. 

To  understand  aright  the  romance  of  cotton  we  must 
understand  the  nature  of  the  plant  in  its  relation  to 
climate.  It  has  been  called  a  child  of  the  tropics,  and 
yet  it  grows  well  in  other  than  tropical  climes.  As  Mr 
Richard  Marsden  —  an  authority  on  cotton-spinning  — 
says :  '  Cotton  is  or  can  be  grown  (along)  a  broad  zone 
extending  forty-five  degrees  north  to  thirty-five  degrees 
south  of  the  equator.  Reference  to  a  map  will  show  that 
this  includes  a  space  extending  from  the  European  shores 
of  the  Mediterranean  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  from 
Japan  to  Melbourne  in  Australia,  and  from  Washington  in 
the  United  States  to  Buenos  Ayres  in  South  America,  with 
all  the  lands  intermediate  between  these  several  points. 
These  include  the  Southern  States  of  the  American  Union, 
from  Washington  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  three-fourths 
of  South  America,  the  whole  of  the  African  Continent,  and 
Southern  Asia  from  the  Bosphorus  to  Pekin  in  China.  The 
vast  area  of  Australia  is  also  within  the  cotton  zone,  and 
the  islands  lying  between  that  country  and  Asia.' 


96  WOOL    AND    COTTON. 

The  exact  period  at  which  the  manufacture  of  cotton 
was  begun  in  England  is  not  known  with  absolute  cer- 
tainty. But  as  we  have  said,  the  first  authentic  mention 
of  it  occurs  in  1641 ;  and  it  is  in  a  book  called  Treasure 
of  Traffic,  by  Lewis  Roberts.  The  passage  runs  thus  : 
'The  town  of  Manchester,  in  Lancashire,  must  be  also 
herein  remembered,  and  worthily  for  their  encouragement 
commended,  who  buy  the  yarne  of  the  Irish  in  great 
quantity,  and  weaving  it,  return e  the  same  again  into 
Ireland  to  sell.  Neither  doth  their  industry  rest  here  ; 
for  they  buy  cotton-wool  in  London  that  comes  first  from 
Cyprus  and  Smyrna,  and  at  home  worke  the  same,  and 
perfect  it  into  fustians,  vermilions,  dimities,  and  other  such 
stuffs ;  and  then  return  it  to  London,  where  the  same  is 
vended  and  sold,  and  not  seldom  sent  into  foreign  parts, 
who  have  means,  at  far  easier  terms,  to  provide  themselves 
of  the  said  first  materials.' 

But  here  it  should  be  explained  that  from  the  first  intro- 
duction of  the  cotton  fibre  into  this  country,  and  until  about 
the  year  1773,  in  the  manufacture  of  cloth  it  was  only  the 
weft  that  was  of  cotton.  Down  to  about  1773,  the  warp 
was  invariably  of  linen  yarn,  brought  from  Ireland  and 
Germany.  The  Manchester  merchants  began  in  1760  to 
employ  the  hand-loom  weavers  in  the  surrounding  villages 
to  make  cloth  according  to  prescribed  patterns,  and  with 
the  yarns  supplied  by  the  buyers.  Thus  they  sent  linen 
yarn  for  warp,  and  raw  cotton — which  the  weaver  had 
first  to  card  and  spin  on  a  common  distaff — for  weft. 
Such  was  the  practice  when,  in  1767,  James  Hargreaves 
of  Blackburn  inaugurated  the  textile  revolution  by  in- 
venting the  spinning-jenny,  which,  from  small  beginnings, 
was  soon  made  to  spin  thirty  threads  as  easily  as  one. 
The  thread  thus  spun,  however,  was  still  only  available 
for  weft,  as  the  jenny  could  not  turn  out  the  yarn  hard 
and  firm  enough  for  warp.      The  next  stage,   therefore, 


COTTON.  97 

was  the  invention  of  a  machine  to  give  the  requisite 
quality  and  tenuity  to  the  threads  spun  from  the  raw 
cotton.  This  was  the  spinning-frame  of  Richard  Ark- 
wright,  the  story  of  which  every  schoolboy  is  supposed 
to  know. 

Here,  then,  we  reach  another  point  in  our  romance. 
The  manufacture  of  cotton  cloths  in  England  from  raw 
cotton  is  older  than  the  cotton  culture  of  North  America. 
It  is,  in  fact,  only  about  one  hundred  years  since  we  began 
to  draw  supplies  of  raw  cotton  from  the  Southern  States, 
which,  previous  to  1784,  did  not  export  a  single  pound, 
and  produced  only  a  small  quantity  for  domestic  con- 
sumption. The  story  of  the  development  of  cotton- 
growing  in  America  is  quite  as  marvellous  as  the  story 
of  the  expansion  of  cotton-manufacturing  in  England. 
In  both  cases  the  most  stupendous  extension  ever  reached 
by  any  single  industry  in  the  history  of  the  world  has  been 
reached  in  less  than  a  hundred  years. 

And  yet  Columbus  found  the  Cubans,  as  Pizarro  found 
the  Peruvians,  and  Cortes  found  the  Mexicans,  clothed 
in  cotton.  Was  it  from  the  same  plant  as  now  supplies 
'  half  the  calico  used  by  the  entire  human  race '  (as  an 
American  writer  has  computed)  ?  This  estimate,  by  the 
way,  was  arrived  at  thus:  In  1889-90  the  cotton  crop 
of  the  world  was  6094  millions  of  pounds,  and  the  popula- 
tion of  the  world  was  computed  at  1500  millions.  This 
gave  four  pounds  of  raw  cotton,  equal  to  twenty  yards  of 
calico,  per  head ;  and  the  proportion  of  raw  cotton  pro- 
vided by  the  Southern  States  was  equal  to  eleven  and  a 
half  yards  per  head.  The  raw  cotton  imported  by  Great 
Britain  in  1894  had  a  value  of  nearly  33  million  pounds 
sterling ;  the  exports  of  cotton  yarn  and  manufactured  goods 
amounted  to  about  66  millions  sterling. 

There  are  several  species  of  the  cotton  plant ;  but  those 
of   commercial    importance    are    four   in    number.       Her- 

G 


98  WOOL   AND    COTTON. 

baceous  Cotton  ('Gossypium  herbaceum ' )  is  the  plant 
which  yields  the  East  Indian  'Surat'  and  some  varieties 
of  the  Egyptian  cotton.  Its  habitats  are  India,  China, 
Arabia,  Egypt,  and  Asia  Minor.  It  is  an  annual :  it  grows 
to  a  height  of  five  or  six  feet,  it  has  a  yellow  flower,  and  it 
yields  a  short  staple.  Tree  Cotton  ('Gossypium  arbo- 
reum '),  on  the  other  hand,  grows  to  a  height  of  fifteen  or 
twenty  feet,  has  a  red  flower,  and  yields  a  fine  silky  wool. 
Its  habitats  are  Egypt,  Arabia,  India,  and  China.  Hairy 
Cotton  ('Gossypium  hirsutum')  is  a  shrub  of  some  six  or 
seven  feet  high,  with  a  white  or  straw-coloured  flower,  and 
hairy  pods,  which  yield  the  staple  known  as  American 
1  Upland '  and  '  Orleans  '  cotton.  Another  variety,  called 
'Gossypium  Barbadense,'  because  it  was  first  found  in 
Barbadoes,  grows  to  a  height  of  about  fifteen  feet,  and  has 
a  yellow  flower,  yielding  a  long  staple,  and  fine  silky  wool 
known  as  'Sea  Island'  cotton.  This  now  grows  most 
extensively  on  the  coasts  of  Georgia  and  Florida  ;  but 
has  been  experimented  with  in  various  parts  of  the  world, 
notably  in  Egypt,  where  it  has  succeeded;  and  in  the 
Polynesian  islands,  where,  for  some  reason  or  another,  it 
has  failed. 

The  cotton  plant  of  the  American  cotton  plantations  is 
an  annual,  which  shoots  above  ground  in  about  a  fortnight 
after  sowing,  and  which,  as  it  grows,  throws  out  flower- 
stalks,  at  the  end  of  each  of  which  develops  a  pod  with 
fringed  calyces.  From  this  pod  emerges  a  flower  which, 
in  some  of  the  American  varieties  of  the  general  species, 
will  change  its  colour  from  day  to  day.  The  complete 
bloom  flourishes  for  only  twenty-four  hours,  at  the  end  of 
which  time  the  flower  twists  itself  off,  leaving  a  pod  or 
boll,  which  grows  to  the  size  of  a  large  filbert,  browns  and 
hardens  like  a  nut,  and  then  bursts,  revealing  the  fibre  or 
wool  encased  in  three  or  four  (according  to  the  variety) 
cells  within.     This   fibre   or  wool  is   the  covering  of  the 


COTTON.  99 

seeds,  and  in  each  cell  will  be  as  many  separate  fleeces  as 
seeds,  yet  apparently  forming  one  fleece. 

Upon  the  characteristics  of  this  fleece  depends  the 
commercial  value  of  the  fibre.  The  essential  qualities  of 
good  and  mature  cotton  are  thus  enumerated  by  an 
expert :  '  Length  of  fibre ;  smallness  or  fineness  in 
diameter ;  evenness  and  smoothness ;  elasticity ;  tensile 
strength  and  colour;  hollowness  or  tube-like  construction; 
natural  twist ;  corrugated  edges ;  and  moisture.'  The 
fibre  of  Indian  cotton  is  only  about  five-eighths  of  an  inch 
long;  that  of  Sea  Island  about  two  inches.  Then  Sea 
Island  cotton  is  a  sort  of  creamy-white  colour ;  and  some 
kinds  of  American  and  Egyptian  cotton  are  not  white  at 
all,  but  golden  in  hue ;  while  other  kinds,  again,  are  snow- 
white. 

Although  the  term  '  American  Cotton  '  is  applied  to  all 
the  cotton  produced  in  the  United  States  of  America,  it 
really  applies  to  a  number  of  different  varieties — such  as 
Texas,  Mobile,  Upland,  Orleans,  &c. — each  one  known 
by  its  distinctive  name.  The  differences  are  too  technical 
for  explanation  here ;  but,  generally  speaking,  the  members 
of  the  '  hirsutum '  species  of  the  '  Gossypium '  tribe  now 
rule  the  world  of  cotton. 

They  are  the  product  of  what  is  called  the  '  Cotton- 
belt'  of  the  United  States,  an  area  stretching  for  about 
two  thousand  miles  between  its  extreme  points  in  the 
Southern  States,  which  are  North  and  South  Carolina, 
Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Florida,  Louisiana,  Arkan- 
sas, and  Texas.  Over  this  area,  soil  and  climate  vary  con- 
siderably. The  '  Cotton-belt '  lies,  roughly  speaking, 
between  the  thirtieth  and  fortieth  parallels  of  north 
latitude.  As  an  American  expert  says  :  '  Cotton  can  be 
produced  with  various  degrees  of  profit  throughout  the 
region  bounded  on  the  north  by  a  line  passing  through 
Philadelphia ;  on  the  south  by  a  line  passing  a  little  south 


IOO  WOOL   AND    COTTON. 

of  New  Orleans ;  and  on  the  west  by  a  line  passing 
through  San  Antonio.  This  is  the  limit  of  the  possi- 
bilities.' 

The  cotton  plant  likes  a  light  sandy  soil,  or  a  black 
alluvial  soil  like  that  of  the  Mississippi  margins.  It  re- 
quires both  heat  and  moisture  in  due  proportions,  and  is 
sensitive  to  cold,  to  drought,  and  to  excessive  moisture. 
The  American  cotton-fields  are  still  worked  by  negroes, 
but  no  longer  slaves,  as  before  the  war ;  and,  in  fact,  the 
negroes  are  now  not  only  free,  but  some  of  them  are  con- 
siderable cotton-growers  on  their  own  account.  On  the 
other  hand,  one  finds  nowadays  little  of  the  old  system  of 
spacious  plantations  under  one  ownership.  Instead,  the 
cultivation  is  carried  on  on  small  farms  and  allotments, 
not  owned  but  rented  by  the  cultivators.  Large  numbers 
of  these  cotton  farmers  are  '  financed '  by  dealers,  by  land- 
owners, or  even  by  local  storekeepers. 

The  cotton  factor  is  the  go-between  of  the  grower  and 
the  exporting  agent  in  Galveston  or  New  Orleans,  or  other 
centre  of  business.  After  the  crop  is  picked  by  the 
negroes — men,  women,  and  children — and  the  harvest  is  a 
long  process — the  seeds  are  separated  from  the  fibre  by 
means  of  a  'gin ;'  and  then  the  cotton-wool  is  packed  into 
loose  bales  for  the  factor,  while  the  seeds  are  sent  to  a 
mill  to  be  crushed  for  cotton-seed  oil  and  oil-cake  for 
cattle-feeding.  The  loose  cotton  bales  are  collected  by 
the  factors  into  some  such  central  town  as  Memphis, 
where  they  are  sorted,  sampled,  graded,  and  then  com- 
pressed by  machinery  into  bales  of  about  four  hundred 
and  forty  pounds  each,  for  export.  In  calculating  crops, 
&c,  a  bale  is  taken  as  four  hundred  pounds  net. 

The  cotton  then  passes  into  the  hands  of  the  shipping 
agent,  who  brands  it,  and  forwards  it  by  river-steamer  to 
one  of  the  Southern  ports,  or  by  rail  to  New  York  or 
Boston,  where  it  is  put  on  board  an  ocean  steamer  for 


COTTON.  IOI 

Europe.  The  beautiful  American  clippers  with  which  some 
of  us  were  familiar  in  the  days  of  our  youth  are  no  longer 
to  be  seen ;  they  have  been  run  off  the  face  of  the  waters 
by  the  'ocean  liner'  and  the  'tramp.'  Arrived  in  Liver- 
pool, cotton  enters  upon  a  new  course  of  adventures  alto- 
gether, and  engages  the  thoughts  and  energies  of  a  wholly 
new  set  of  people. 


Cotton  Plant. 


CHAPTER    V. 


GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 


Gold. — How  widely  distributed — Alluvial  Gold-mining — Vein  Gold- 
mining — Nuggets — Treatment  of  Ore  and  Gold  in  the  Transvaal — 
Story  of  South  African  Gold-fields— Gold-production  of  the  World 
— Johannesburg  the  Golden  City — Coolgardie  Gold-fields — Bayley's 
discovery  of  Gold  there. 

Diamonds.  —  Composition — Diamond  -  cutting — Diamond  -  mining — 
Famous  Diamonds — Cecil  J.  Rhodes  and  the  Kimberley  Mines. 

N  the  getting  of  gold — the  metal — for  the  pur- 
pose of  possessing  gold — as  money — there 
has  always  been  an  element  of  excitement 
and  romance. 

'  How  quickly  nature  falls  into  revolt  when 
gold  becomes  her  object !'  as  Shakespeare  says  : 

For  gold  the  merchant  ploughs  the  main, 
The  farmer  ploughs  the  manor. 

There  is  a  vast  difference  between  the  way  in  which  the 
precious  metal  is  now  extracted  and  the  primitive  methods 
which  were  considered  perfect  in  the  earlier  part  of  the 
century.  The  miner  of  fifty  years  ago  never  dreamt  of 
machinery,  costly  and  magnificent,  capable  of  crushing 
thousands  of  tons  of  quartz  per  week.  He  'dollied,'  or 
ground,  his  little  bits  of  rock  by  means  of  a  contrivance 


GOLD. 


103 


resembling  a  pestle  and  mortar,  and  it  was  only  the  very 
richest  stone  that  repaid  him  for  his  labour.  In  fact,  there 
was  very  little  crushing  in  those  days,  quartz  not  being 
easily  found  sufficiently  rich  to  make  such  work  a  paying 
concern,  and  it  was  therefore  alluvial  gold  which  was 
chiefly  sought  for.  The  gold-seeker  having  decided  on 
the  place  where  he  was  to  make  his  first  venture,  provided 


The  Hand- cradle  Method  of  extracting  Gold. 


himself  with  a  shovel  and  pick  and  started  for  the 
'diggings.'  Gold-mining  was  then  carried  on  all  over 
California,  and  he  had  his  choice  of  many  camps. 

But  what  a  wild  and  lawless  place  was  California  in 
those  days !  Here  in  these  gold-fields  were  gathered 
together  thousands  of  the  greatest  desperadoes  that  the 
earth  could  boast  of,  and  thousands  of  needy,  if  harmless, 


104  GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 

adventurers  from  every  country  in  the  world.  Fortunately 
with  them  were  mixed  thousands  of  honest  hard-working 
men,  of  every  condition  in  life,  from  the  peer  to  the 
peasant,  men  who  had  been  doing  well,  or  fairly  well, 
at  their  professions,  or  in  their  business  offices  at  home, 
but  for  whom  the  attractions  of  this  El  Dorado  had  proved 
too  powerful. 

Gold  is  perhaps  the  most  widely  and  universally  sought 
product  of  The  earth's  crust.  In  the  very  earliest  writings 
wrrich  have  come  down  to  us  gold  is  mentioned  as  an 
object  of  men's  search,  and  as  a  commodity  of  extreme 
value  for  purposes  of  adornment  and  as  a  medium  of 
exchange.  The  importance  which  it  possessed  in  ancient 
times  has  certainly  not  lessened  in  our  day.  Without  the 
enormous  supplies  of  gold  produced  at  about  the  time 
when  the  steam-engine  was  being  brought  into  practical 
use  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  how  our  commerce  could 
have  attained  its  present  proportions ;  and  but  for  the 
rush  of  immigrants  to  the  gold-fields  in  the  beginning  of 
the  second  half  of  this  century  Australia  might  have 
remained  a  mere  convict  settlement,  California  have  be- 
come but  a  granary  and  vineyard,  and  the  Transvaal  an 
asylum  of  the  Boers  who  were  discontented  with  the  Cape 
government. 

On  the  score  of  geographical  distribution,  gold  must  be 
deemed  a  common  metal,  as  common  as  copper,  lead,  or 
silver,  and  far  more  common  than  nickel,  cobalt,  platinum, 
and  many  others.  Theorists  have  propounded  curious 
rules  for  the  occurrence  of  gold  on  certain  lines  and  belts, 
which  have  no  existence  but  in  their  own  fancy.  Scarcely 
a  country  but  has  rewarded  a  systematic  search  for  gold, 
though  some  are  more  richly  endowed  than  others,  and 
discoveries  are  not  always  made  with  the  same  facility. 
The  old  prejudices,  which  made  men  associate  gold  only 
with   certain   localities   hindered    the   development   of  a 


v 


GOLD.  105 

most  promising  industry  even  within  the  British  shores. 
Despite  the  abundant  traces  of  ancient  Roman  and  other 
workings,  the  gold-mines  of  Wales  were  long  regarded 
as  mythical ;  but  recent  extended  exploitation  has 
proved  them  to  be  rich.  This  is  notably  the  case 
in  the  Dolgelly  district,  where  considerable  gold  occurs, 
both  in  alluvial  gravels  and  in  well-formed  quartz  veins 
traversing  the  Lower  Silurian  Lingula  beds  and  the 
intruded  diabasic  rocks  called  'greenstone'  in  the  Geo- 
logical Survey.  A  peculiarity  of  the  veins  is  the  common 
association  of  magnesian  minerals.  The  gold  is  about 
20  or  21  carats  fine,  and  often  shows  traces  of  iron 
sesquioxide.  So  long  ago  as  1861  some  ;£i 0,000  worth 
of  gold  per  annum  was  taken  out  of  the  Clogan  mine  by 
imperfect  methods.  Some  samples  have  afforded  40  to  60 
ounces  per  ton — a  most  remarkable  yield.  There  are 
probably  many  veins  still  waiting  discovery. 

A  calculation  was  made  in  1881  that  the  total  gold 
extracted  from  all  sources  up  to  that  date  from  the  creation 
had  been  over  10,000  tons,  with  a  value  of  about  1500 
millions  sterling.  California,  to  the  end  of  1888,  was 
reckoned  to  have  afforded  over  200  million  pounds'  worth, 
and  this  figure  is  exceeded  by  the  Australian  colony  of 
Victoria. 

The  origin  of  gold-bearing  mineral  veins  is  inseparably 
connected  with  that  vexed  question,  the  origin  of  mineral 
veins  generally.  By  far  the  most  common  matrix  of  vein- 
gold  is  quartz  or  silica,  but  it  is  not  the  only  one.  To 
pass  by  the  metals  and  metallic  ores  with  which  gold  is 
found,,  there  are  several  other  minerals  which  serve  as  an 
envelope  for  the  precious  metal.  Chief  among  them  is 
lime.  Some  of  the  best  mines  of  New  South  Wales  are 
in  calcareous  veins.  Sundry  gold-reefs  in  Queensland, 
New  South  Wales,  Victoria,  and  Bohemia  are  full  of  calcite. 
Dolomite   occurs   in   Californian   and    Manitoban    mines; 


106  GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 

and  apatite,  aragonite,  gypsum,  selenite,  and  crystalline 
limestone  have  all  proved  auriferous,  while  in  some 
cases  neighbouring  quartz  has  been  barren.  Felspar  in 
Colorado  and  felsite  magnesian  slate  in  Newfoundland 
carry  gold. 


NUGGETS. 


The  physical  conditions  under  which  gold  occurs  are 
extremely  variable.  Popularly  speaking,  the  most  familiar 
form  is  the  '  nugget,'  or  shapeless  mass  of  appreciable  size. 
These,  however,  constitute  in  the  aggregate  but  a  small 
proportion  of  the  gold  yielded  by  any  field,  and  were 
much  more  common  in  the  early  days  of  placer-mining  in 
California  and  Australia  than  they  are  now.  One  of  the 
largest  ever  found,  the  '  Welcome '  nugget,  discovered  in 
1858  at  Bakery  Hill,  Ballarat,  weighed  2217  ounces  16 
dwt,  and  sold  for  ,£10,500,  whilst  not  a  few  have  exceeded 


Welcome  Nugget. 

1000  ounces.  One  found  at  Casson  Hill,  Calaveras 
county,  California,  in  1854,  weighed  180  pounds.  The 
1  Water  Moon  '  nugget,  found  in  Australia  in  1852,  weighed 
223  pounds.  The  origin  of  these  large  nuggets  has  been 
a  subject  for  discussion.     Like  all  placer  or  alluvial  gold, 


NUCxGETS.  107 

they  have  been  in  part  at  least  derived  from  the  aur- 
iferous veins  traversing  the  rocks  whose  disintegration 
furnished  the  material  forming  the  gravel  beds  in  which 
the  nuggets  are  found. 

The  famous  nugget  known  as  the  '  Welcome  Stranger ' 
was  discovered  under  singular  circumstances  in  the 
Dunolly  district  of  Victoria,  which  is  one  hundred  and 
ten  miles  north-west  of  the  capital,  Melbourne,  by  two 
Cornish  miners  named  Deeson  and  Oates.  Their  career 
is  remarkable,  as  showing  how  fortune,  after  frowning  for 
years,  will  suddenly  smile  on  the  objects  of  her  apparent 
aversion.  These  two  Cornishmen  emigrated  from  Eng- 
land to  Australia  by  the  same  vessel  in  1854.  They 
betook  themselves  to  the  far-famed  Sandhurst  Gold-field 
in  Victoria ;  they  worked  together  industriously  for  years, 
and  yet  only  contrived  to  make  a  bare  livelihood  by 
their  exertions.  Thinking  that  change  of  place  might  pos- 
sibly mean  change  of  luck,  they  moved  to  the  Dunolly 
Gold-field,  and  their  spirits  were  considerably  raised  by 
the  discovery  of  some  small  nuggets.  But  this  was  only  a 
momentary  gleam  of  sunshine,  for  their  former  ill-luck 
pursued  them  again,  and  pursued  them  even  more  relent- 
lessly than  before. 

The  time  at  last  came,  on  the  morning  of  Friday, 
February  5,  1869,  when  the  storekeeper  with  whom  they 
were  accustomed  to  deal  refused  to  supply  them  any  longer 
with  the  necessaries  of  life  until  they  liquidated  the  debt 
they  had  already  incurred.  For  the  first  time  in  their  lives 
they  went  hungry  to  work,  and  the  spectacle  of  these  two 
brave  fellows  fighting  on  an  empty  stomach  against  con- 
tinued ill-luck  must  have  moved  the  fickle  goddess  to  pity 
and  repentance.  Gloomy  and  depressed  as  they  naturally 
were,  they  plied  their  picks  with  indomitable  perseverance, 
and  while  Deeson  was  breaking  up  the  earth  around  the 
roots  of  a  tree,  his  pick  suddenly  and  sharply  rebounded 


108  GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 

by  reason  of  its  having  struck  some  very  hard  substance. 
'  Come  and  see  what  this  is,'  he  called  out  to  his  mate. 
To  their  astonishment,  'this'  turned  out  to  be  the  'Wel- 
come Stranger '  nugget ;  and  thus  two  poverty-stricken 
Cornish  miners  became  in  a  moment  the  possessors  of  the 
largest  mass  of  gold  that  mortal  eyes  ever  saw,  or  are  likely 
to  see  again.  Such  a  revolution  of  fortune  is  probably 
unique  in  the  annals  of  the  human  race.  Almost  be- 
wildered by  the  unexpected  treasure  they  had  found  at 
their  feet,  Deeson  and  Oates  removed  the  superincumbent 
clay,  and  there  revealed  to  their  wondering  eyes  was  a 
lump  of  gold,  a  foot  long  and  a  foot  broad,  and  so  heavy 
that  their  joint  strength  could  scarcely  move  it.  A  dray 
having  been  procured,  the  monster  nugget  was  escorted  by 
an  admiring  procession  into  the  town  of  Dunolly,  and 
carried  into  the  local  branch  of  the  London  Chartered 
Bank,  where  it  was  weighed,  and  found  to  contain  2  268|- 
ounces  of  gold.  The  Bank  purchased  the  nugget  for 
^9534,  which  the  erstwhile  so  unlucky,  but  now  so  for- 
tunate, pair  of  Cornish  miners  divided  equally  between 
them.  Whether  the  storekeeper  who  refused  them  the 
materials  for  a  breakfast  that  morning  apologised  for  his 
harsh  behaviour,  history  relates  not,  but  the  probability  is 
that  he  was  paid  the  precise  amount  of  his  debt  and  no 
more;  whereas,  had  he  acted  in  a  more  generous  spirit 
towards  two  brothers  in  distress,  he  might  have  come  in 
for  a  handsome  present  out  of  the  proceeds  of  the  '  Wel- 
come Stranger.' 

The  'Welcome'  nugget  above  mentioned,  found  at 
Bakery  Hill,  Ballarat,  in  Victoria,  on  June  15,  1858,  was 
nearly  as  large  as  the  one  just  described,  its  weight  being 
2217  ounces  16  dwts.  It  was  found  at  a  depth  of  one 
hundred  and  eighty  feet  in  a  claim  belonging  to  a  party  of 
twenty-four  men,  who  disposed  of  it  for  ^10,500.  A 
smaller  nugget,  weighing  571   ounces,  was  found  in  close 


NUGGETS.  109 

proximity  to  it.  After  being  exhibited  in  Melbourne,  the 
'Welcome'  nugget  was  brought  to  London  and  smelted  in 
November  1859.  The  assay  showed  that  it  contained 
99-20  per  cent,  of  gold. 

Another  valuable  nugget,  which  was  brought  to  London 
and  exhibited  at  the  Crystal  Palace,  Sydenham,  was  the 
1  Blanche  Barkly,'  found  by  a  party  of  four  diggers  on 
August  27,  1857,  at  Kingower,  Victoria,  just  thirteen  feet 
beneath  the  surface.  It  was  twenty-eight  inches  long,  ten 
inches  broad  in  its  widest  part,  and  weighed  1743  ounces 
13  dwts.  It  realised  ^6905,  12s.  6d.  A  peculiarity 
about  this  nugget  was  the  manner  in  which  it  had  eluded 
the  efforts  of  previous  parties  to  capture  it.  Three  years 
before  its  discovery,  a  number  of  miners,  judging  the  place 
to  be  a  'likely'  locality,  had  sunk  holes  within  a  few  feet  of 
the  spot  where  this  golden  mass  was  reposing,  and  yet  they 
were  not  lucky  enough  to  strike  it.  What  a  tantalising 
thought  it  must  have  been  in  after-years,  when  they  re- 
flected on  the  fact  that  they  were  once  within  an  arm's 
length  of  ^£7000  without  being  fortunate  enough  to  grasp 
the  golden  treasure  !  Kingower,  like  Dunolly,  from  which 
it  is  only  a  few  miles  distant,  is  a  locality  famous  for  its 
nuggets.  One  weighing  230  ounces  was  actually  found  on 
the  surface  covered  with  green  moss ;  and  pieces  of  gold 
have  frequently  been  picked  up  there  after  heavy  rains,  the 
water  washing  away  the  thin  coating  of  earth  that  had 
previously  concealed  them.  Two  men  working  in  the 
Kingower  district  in  i860  found  a  very  fine  nugget,  weigh- 
ing 805  ounces,  within  a  foot  of  the  surface ;  and  one  of 
715  ounces  was  unearthed  at  Daisy  Hill  at  a  depth  of 
only  three  and  a  half  feet. 

A  notable  instance  of  rapid  fortune  was  that  of  a  party 
of  four,  who,  having  been  but  a  few  months  in  the  colony 
of  Victoria,  were  lucky  enough  to  alight  on  a  nugget 
weighing   161 5    ounces.      They  immediately  returned   to 


IIO  GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 

England  with  their  prize  and  sold  it  for  .£5532,  7s.  4d. 
The  place  where  they  thus  quickly  made  their  'pile,'  to 
use  an  expressive  colonialism,  was  Canadian  Gully,  at 
Ballarat,  a  very  prolific  nugget-ground.  There  was  also 
found  the  'Lady  Hotham'  nugget,  called  after  the  wife  of 
Sir  Charles  Hotham,  one  of  the  early  governors  of  Victoria. 
It  was  discovered  on  September  8,  1854,  at  a  depth  of  135 
feet.  Its  weight  was  1177  ounces  ;  and  near  it  were  found 
a  number  of  smaller  nuggets  of  the  aggregate  weight  of 
2600  ounces,  so  that  the  total  value  of  the  gold  extracted 
from  this  one  claim  was  no  less  than  ^13,000.  As 
showing  the  phenomenal  richness  of  this  locality,  it  may 
be  added  that  on  January  20,  1853,  a  party  of  three 
brought  to  the  surface  a  solid  mass  of  gold  weighing  n  17 
ounces ;  and  two  days  afterwards,  in  the  same  tunnel,  a 
splendid  pyramidal-shaped  nugget  weighing  10 11  ounces 
was   discovered;    the   conjoint   value   of  the    two   being 

;£75°°- 

A  case  somewhat  similar  to  one  already  described  was 
that  of  the  '  Heron '  nugget,  a  solid  mass  of  gold  to  the 
amount  of  1008  ounces,  which  was  found  at  Fryer's  Creek, 
Victoria,  by  two  young  men  who  had  only  been  three 
months  in  the  colony.  They  were  offered  ^4000  for  it  in 
Victoria ;  but  they  preferred  to  bring  it  to  England  as  a 
trophy,  and  there  they  sold  it  for  ^4080. 

The  'Victoria'  nugget,  as  its  name  suggests,  was  pur- 
chased by  the  Victorian  government  for  presentation  to 
Her  Majesty.  It  was  a  very  pretty  specimen  of  340 
ounces,  worth  ^1650,  and  was  discovered  at  White  Horse 
Gully,  Sandhurst.  Quite  close  to  it,  and  within  a  foot  of 
the  surface,  was  found  the  '  Dascombe '  nugget,  weighing 
330  ounces,  which  was  also  brought  to  London,  and  sold 

for  £1S°°- 

Just  as  a  book  should  never  be  judged  by  its  cover,  so 
mineral  substances  should  not  be  estimated  by  superficial 


NUGGETS.  Ill 

indications.  A  neglect  of  this  salutary  precept  was  once 
very  nearly  resulting  in  the  loss  of  a  valuable  Victorian 
nugget.  A  big  lump  of  quartz  was  brought  to  the  surface, 
and,  as  its  exterior  aspect  presented  only  slight  indications 
of  the  existence  of  gold,  it  was  at  first  believed  to  be 
valueless ;  but  as  soon  as  the  mass  was  broken  up,  there, 
embedded  in  the  quartz,  was  a  beautiful  nugget  of  an  oval 
shape. 

New  South  Wales,  the  parent  colony  of  the  Australian 
group,  has  produced  a  considerable  quantity  of  gold,  but 
not  many  notable  nuggets.  Its  most  famous  nugget  was 
discovered  by  a  native  boy  in  June  1851  at  Meroo  Creek, 
near  the  present  town  of  Bathurst.  This  black  boy  was  in 
the  employ  of  Dr  Kerr  as  a  shepherd,  and  one  day,  whilst 
minding  his  sheep,  he  casually  came  across  three  detached 
pieces  of  quartz.  He  tried  to  turn  over  the  largest  of  the 
pieces  with  his  stick ;  but  he  was  astonished  to  find  that 
the  lump  was  much  heavier  than  the  ordinary  quartz  with 
which  he  was  familiar.  Bending  down  and  looking  closer, 
he  saw  a  shining  yellow  mass  lying  near ;  and  when  he  at 
last  succeeded  in  lifting  up  the  piece  of  quartz,  his  eyes 
expanded  on  observing  that  the  whole  of  its  under  surface 
was  of  the  same  shining  complexion.  He  probably  did 
not  realise  the  full  value  of  his  discovery;  but  he  had 
sufficient  sense  to  break  off  a  few  specimens  and  hasten 
to  show  them  to  his  master.  Dr  Kerr  set  off  at  once  to 
verify  the  discovery ;  and  when  he  arrived  at  the  spot,  his 
most  sanguine  anticipations  were  fulfilled  by  the  event. 
He  found  himself  the  possessor  of  1272  ounces  of  gold; 
and  he  rewarded  the  author  of  his  wealth,  the  little  black 
boy,  with  a  flock  of  sheep  and  as  much  land  as  was  needed 
for  their  pasture. 


GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 


METHODS    OF    MINING. 


The  more  common  form  of  alluvial  gold  is  as  grains,  or 
scales,  or  dust,  varying  in  size  from  that  of  ordinary  gun- 
powder to  a  minuteness  that  is  invisible  to  the  naked  eye. 
Sometimes  indeed  the  particles  are  so  small  that  they  are 
known  as  'paint'  gold,  forming  a  scarcely  perceptible 
coating  on  fragments  of  rock.  When  the  gold  is  very  fine 
or  in  very  thin  scales,  much  of  it  is  lost  in  the  ordinary 
processes  for  treating  gravels,  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  it 
will  actually  float  on  water  for  a  considerable  distance. 

From  what  has  been  already  said  it  will  be  evident  that 
gold-mining  must  be  an  industry  presenting  several  distinct 
phases.      These  may  be  classed  as  alluvial  mining,  vein-)) 
mining,  and  the  treatment  of  auriferous  ores.  / 

In  alluvial  mining  natural  agencies,  such  as  frost,  rain, 
&c,  have,  in  the  course  of  centuries,  performed  the 
arduous  tasks  of  breaking  up  the  matrix  which  held  the 
gold,  and  washing  away  much  of  the  valueless  material, 
leaving  the  gold  concentrated  into  a  limited  area  by  virtue 
of  its  great  specific  gravity.  Hence  it  is  never  safe  to 
assume  that  the  portion  of  the  veins  remaining  as  such 
will  yield  anything  like  so  great  an  equivalent  of  gold  as 
the  alluvials  formed  from  the  portion  which  has  been 
disintegrated.  As  water  has  been  the  chief  (but  not  the 
only)  agent  in  distributing  the  gold  and  gravel  constituting 
alluvial  diggings  or  placers,  the  banks  and  beds  of  running 
streams  in  the  neighbourhood  of  auriferous  veins  are  likely 
spots  for  the  prospector,  who  finds  in  the  flowing  water  of 
the  stream  the  means  of  separating  the  heavy  grains  of 
gold  from  the  much  lighter  particles  of  rock,  sand,  and 
mud.  Often  the  brook  is  made  to  yield  the  gold  it 
transports  by  the  simple  expedient  of  placing  in  it  obstacles 
which  will  arrest  the  gold  without  obstructing  the  lighter 


METHODS    OF    MINING. 


"3 


matters.  Jason's  golden  fleece  was  probably  a  sheepskin 
which  had  been  pegged  down  in  the  current  of  the  Phasis 
till  a  quantity  of  gold  grains  had  become  entangled  among 
the  wool.  To  this  day  the  same  practice  is  followed  with 
ox-hides  in  Brazil,  and  with  sheepskins  in  Ladakh,  Savoy, 
and  Hungary.  This  may  be  deemed  the  simplest  form  of 
'  alluvial  mining.'  If  the  gold  deposited  in  holes  and 
behind  bars  in  the  bed  of  the  stream  is  to  be  recovered, 
greater  preparations  are  needed.  Either  the  river-bed 
must  be  dredged  by  floating  dredgers,  worked  by  the 
stream  or  otherwise ;  or  the  gravel  must  be  dug  out  for 
washing  while  the  bed  is  left  dry  in  hot  weather ;  or  the 
river  must  be  diverted  into  another  channel  (natural  or 
artificial)  whilst  its  bed  is  being  stripped.  The  first-named 
method  is  best  adapted  to  large  volumes  of  water,  but 
probably  is  least  productive  of  gold,  passing  over  much 
that  is  buried  in  crevices  in  the  solid  bed-rock.  The 
second  plan  is  applicable  only  to  small  streams,  and  entails 
much  labour.  The  third  is  most  efficient,  but  very  liable 
to  serious  interference  by  floods,  which  entail  a  heavy  loss 
of  plant. 

In  searching  for  placers  it  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind 
that  the  watercourses  of  the  country  have  not  always 
flowed  in  the  channels  they  now  occupy.  During  the 
long  periods  of  geological  time  many  and  vast  changes 
have  taken  place  in  the  contour  of  the  earth's  surface. 
Hence  it  is  not  an  uncommon  circumstance  to  find  beds 
of  auriferous  gravel  occupying  the  summits  of  hills,  which 
must,  at  the  time  the  deposit  was  made,  have  represented 
the  course  of  a  stream.  In  the  same  way  the  remains  of 
riverine  accumulations  are  found  forming  'terraces'  or 
'  benches '  on  the  flanks  of  hills.  Lacustrine  beds  may 
similarly  occur  at  altitudes  far  above  the  reach  of  any 
existing  stream,  having  been  the  work  of  rivers  long  since 
passed  away. 

H 


114  GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 

Another  form  of  alluvial  digging  occurs  in  Western 
America  and  New  Zealand,  where  the  sea  washes  up 
auriferous  sands.  These  are  known  as  '  ocean  placers  '  or 
'  beach  diggings,'  and  are  of  minor  importance. 

Whilst  most  placers  have  been  formed  by  flowing  water, 
some  owe  their  origin  to  the  action  of  ice,  and  are  really 
glacial  moraines.  Others  are  attributed  to  the  effects  of 
repeated  frost  and  thaw  in  decomposing  the  rocks  and 
causing  rearrangement  of  the  component  parts.  Yet 
another  class  of  deposits  is  supposed  to  have  been  ac- 
cumulated by  an  outpouring  of  volcanic  mud.  And, 
finally,  experts  declare  that  some  of  the  rich  fran&et  beds  of 
the  Transvaal  became  auriferous  by  the  infiltration  of 
water  containing  a  minute  proportion  of  gold  in  solution. 

In  all  cases  the  recovery  of  alluvial  gold  is  in  principle 
remarkably  simple.  It  depends  on  the  fact  that  the  gold 
is  about  seven  times  as  heavy,  bulk  for  bulk,  as  the 
material  forming  the  mass  of  the  deposit.  The  medium 
for  effecting  the  separation  is  water  in  motion.  The 
apparatus  in  which  it  is  applied  may  be  a  '  pan,'  a  'cradle,' 
or  a  'torn,'  for  operations  on  a  very  small  scale,  or  a 
'  sluice,'  which  may  be  a  paved  ditch  or  a  wooden  '  flume ' 
of  great  length,  for  large  operations.  The  method  is  the 
same  in  all :  flowing  water  removes  the  earthy  matters, 
while  obstructions  of  various  kinds  arrest  the  metal.  As  a 
rule,  it  is  more  advantageous  to  conduct  the  water  to  the 
material  than  to  carry  the  material  to  water.  In  many 
cases  a  stream  of  water,  conveyed  by  means  of  pipes,  and 
acting  under  the  influence  of  considerable  pressure,  is 
utilised  for  removing  as  well  as  washing  the  deposit.  This 
method  is  known  as  '  piping '  or  '  hydraulicing '  in  America, 
where  it  has  been  chiefly  developed,  but  is  now  forbidden 
in  many  localities,  because  the  enormous  masses  of  earth 
washed  through  the  sluices  have  silted  up  rivers  and 
harbours,   and   caused   immense   loss    to    the    agricultural 


METHODS    OF    MINING.  115 

interest  by  burying  the  rich  riverside  lands  under  a  deposit 
that  will  be  sterile  for  many  years  to  come.  The  plan 
permits  of  very  economical  working  in  large  quantities, 
but  is  extremely  wasteful  of  gold.  The  water-supply  is  of 
paramount  importance,  and  has  led  to  the  construction  of 
reservoirs  and  conduits,  at  very  heavy  cost,  which  in  many 


Hydraulic  Gold-mining. 


places  will  have  a  permanent  value  long  after  gold-sluicing 
has  ceased.  These  large  water-supply  works  are  often  in 
the  hands  of  distinct  parties  from  the  miners,  the  latter 
purchasing  the  water  they  use.  To  give  an  example  of 
the  results  attained  in  alluvial  mining,  it  may  be  mentioned 
that  in  a  three-months'  working  in  one  Victorian  district  in 


Il6  GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 

1888,  over  33,500  tons  of  wash-dirt  were  treated  for  an 
average  yield  of  18J  grains  of  gold  per  ton,  or,  say,  one 
part  in  700,000.  Where  water  cannot  be  obtained  recourse 
is  had  to  a  fanning  or  winnowing  process  for  separating 
the  gold  from  the  sand,  which,  however,  is  less  efficacious. 

Vein-mining  for  gold  differs  but  little  from  working  any 
other  kind  of  metalliferous  lode.  When  the  vein-stuff  has 
been  raised  it  is  reduced  to  a  pulverulent  condition,  to 
liberate  the  gold  from  the  gangue.  In  some  cases  roasting 
is  first  resorted  to.  This  causes  friability,  and  facilitates 
the  subsequent  comminution.  When  the  gold  is  in  a  very 
fine  state,  too,  it  helps  it  to  agglomerate.  But  if  any 
pyrites  are  present  the  effect  is  most  detrimental,  the  gold 
becoming  coated  with  a  film  of  sulphur  or  a  glazing  of  iron 
oxide.  The  powdering  of  the  vein-stuff  is  usually  per- 
formed in  stamp  batteries,  which  consist  of  a  number  of 
falling  hammers.  While  simple  in  principle,  the  apparatus 
is  complicated  in  its  working  parts,  and  is  probably 
destined  to  give  way  to  the  improved  forms  of  crushing- 
rolls  and  centrifugal  roller  mills,  which  are  less  costly, 
simpler,  more  efficient,  and  do  not  flatten  the  gold  particles 
so  much.  One  of  the  most  effective  is  that  by  Jordan. 
When  the  vein-stuff  has  been  reduced  to  powder,  it  is  akin 
to  alluvial  wash-dirt,  and  demands  the  same  or  similar 
contrivances  for  arresting  the  liberated  gold  and  releasing 
the  tailings — that  is,  mercury  troughs,  amalgamated  plates, 
blanket  strakes,  &c. ;  but,  in  addition,  provision  is  made 
for  catching  the  other  metalliferous  constituents,  such  as 
pyrites,  which  almost  always  carry  a  valuable  percentage 
of  gold.  These  pyrites  or  '  sulphurets '  are  cleansed  by 
concentration  in  various  kinds  of  apparatus,  all  depending 
on  the  greater  specific  gravity  of  the  portion  sought  to  be 
saved. 

Of  the  metals  and  minerals  with  which  gold  is  found 
intimately  associated  in  nature  are  the  following:  Antimony, 


TREATMENT    OF    ORE    AND    GOLD.  117 

arsenic,  bismuth,  cobalt,  copper,  iridium,  iron,  lead,  man- 
ganese, nickel,  osmium,  palladium,  platinum,  selenium, 
silver,  tellurium,  tungsten,  vanadium,  and  zinc,  often  as 
an  alloy  in  the  case  of  palladium,  platinum,  selenium, 
silver  (always),  and  tellurium.  The  methods  of  separation 
vary  with  the  nature  of  the  ore  and  the  conditions  of  the 
locality. 


TREATMENT  OF  ORE  AND  GOLD  IN  THE  TRANSVAAL.- 

The  method  of  treatment  of  ore  and  gold  in  the  Trans- 
vaal, the  most  perfect  and  effective  known  at  the  present 
time,  has  thus  been  described  by  Arthur  Stenhouse  : 

The  rock  when  hoisted  out  of  the  mine  is  first  assorted, 
the  waste  rock  being  thrown  on  one  side  and  the  gold- 
bearing  ore  broken  into  lumps  by  a  stone-breaker.  The 
lumps  of  ore  now  pass  by  gravitation  and  feeders  through 
a  battery  (or  stamp  mill),  each  stamp  of  which  weighs 
about  1 150  pounds,  every  stamp  being  lifted  and  dropped 
separately  by  the  cam  shaft  at  a  speed  of  about  95  drops 
a  minute.  A  stream  of  water  is  introduced,  the  ore  is 
crushed  into  fine  sand,  and  is  carried  by  the  water  over  a 
series  of  inclined  copper  plates,  which  are  coated  with 
quicksilver.  The  free  gold  in  the  sand  at  once  amalga- 
mates with  the  quicksilver  on  the  plates,  and  the  sand-laden 
stream  continues  on  its  course. 

The  sand,  having  now  passed  over  the  plates,  is  carried 
by  launders  on  to  the  concentrators,  or  frue  vanners. 
These  concentrators  separate  and  retain  the  heavy  sand 
(or  concentrates),  whilst  the  lighter  sand  is  carried  by 
gravitation  through  a  trough  (or  launder)  to  the  cyanide 
vats. 

The  stream  of  water  carrying  the  lighter  sand  empties 


tlS  GOLD   AND   DIAMONDS. 

itself  into  the  cyanide  vats,  and  as  each  successive  vat  is 
filled  up,  the  water  is  allowed  to  drain  through  the  sand. 
A  solution  of  cyanide  of  potassium  is  then  pumped  up  and 
evenly  distributed  (by  distributors)  over  the  sand,  and 
dissolves  the  gold  in  its  progress,  leaving  pure  sand  alone 
in  the  vat.  The  gold-containing  liquid  (or  solution)  having 
left  the  vat,  is  led  into  a  series  of  boxes  filled  with  zinc 
shavings,  the  gold  separates  from  the  liquid,  and  settles  on 
the  zinc  shavings  in  the  shape  of  a  small  black  powder. 
The  cyanide  solution  now  freed  from  the  gold  runs  into 
the  solution  vats,  and  is  restrengthened  and  ready  for 
further  use. 

Gold  Recovery. — In  the  mill  or  battery  the  copper  plates 
are  scraped  daily,  and  the  amalgams  (that  is,  quicksilver  and 
gold)  are  weighed  and  placed  in  the  safe  in  charge  of  the 
battery  manager.  This  amalgam  is  generally  retorted  once 
a  week,  that  is  to  say,  the  quicksilver  is  evaporated  (but 
not  lost)  and  the  gold  is  left  in  the  retort.  This  retorted 
gold  is  then  smelted  into  bars. 

The  concentrates  recovered  by  the  frue  vanners  are 
generally  treated  by  chlorination  (roasted).  This  process 
is  gone  through  so  that  the  iron  can  be  separated  from 
the  gold.  Concentrates  are  sometimes  treated  by  cyanide, 
but  the  process,  if  cheaper,  is  slow  and  less  effective. 
Chlorinated  gold  is  also  smelted  into  bars. 

Cyanide. — The  gold  from  the  zinc  shavings  is  recovered 
by  retorting.  It  is  afterwards  melted  into  bars  and  called 
1  cyanide  gold.' 

Slimes  (or  float  gold)  are  generally  conserved  in  a 
dam,  and  when  the  quantity  is  sufficient  they  are 
treated  by  chlorination,  or  by  a  solution  of  cyanide  of 
potassium. 

After  treatment  all  sand  is  still  retained,  and  is  really  a 
small  unbooked  asset  of  the  various  gold-mining  com- 
panies.     The  Rand  undoubtedly  is  the  best  field  to-day 


STORY    OF    THE    SOUTH    AFRICAN    GOLD-FIELDS.         119 

for  students  who  wish  to  acquire  the  details  of  gold  re- 
covery. In  no  other  country  has  science  produced  such 
excellent  results.  At  least  95  per  cent,  of  the  gold  in  the 
ore  can  now  be  recovered,  and  scientific  men  from  all 
countries  are  resident  on  the  fields,  and  advantageous 
discoveries  in  the  treatment  of  various  ores  are  of  almost 
daily  occurrence. 


STORY    OF   THE    SOUTH    AFRICAN    GOLD-FIELDS. 

There  is  material  for  the  philosopher  in  the  fact  of  gold- 
finding  having  occurred  in  connection  with  a  part  of  the 
world  to  which  King  Solomon  the  Wise  sent  for  supplies 
of  gold  and  'almug-trees,'  for  the  mysterious  Ophir  has 
been  located  in  Mashonaland,  and  the  Queen  of  Sheba 
identified  with  the  Sabia  districts,  which,  though  not  in 
'the  Randt,'  are  curiously  connected  with  the  rise  and 
progress  of  the  mania. 

Let  us  briefly  trace  that  romantic  history,  merely  men- 
tioning by  the  way  that,  even  in  European  history,  African 
gold  is  no  novelty,  for  the  Portuguese  brought  back  gold- 
dust  (and  negro  slaves)  from  Cape  Bojador  four  hundred 
and  fifty  years  ago.  The  ruins  of  Mashonaland  were 
discovered  in  1864  by  Karl  Mauch,  who  also  discovered 
the  gold-field  of  Tate  on  the  Zambesi,  of  which  Livingstone 
had  reported  that  the  natives  got  gold  there  by  washing, 
being  too  lazy  to  dig  for  it.  When  Karl  Mauch  came 
back  to  civilisation,  people  laughed  at  his  stories  of  ruined 
cities  in  the  centre  of  Africa  as  travellers'  fables,  but  a 
number  of  Australian  gold-diggers  thought  his  report 
of  the  Tate  gold-field  good  enough  to  follow  up.  So 
about  1867,  a  band  of  them  went  out  and  set  up  a  small 
battery  on  the  Tate  River  for  crushing  the  quartz.     This 


120  GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 

may  be  called  the  first  serious  attempt  at  gold-mining  in 
South  Africa  since  the  days  of  the  lost  races  who  built  the 
cities  whose  ruins  Karl  Mauch  discovered  and  which  Mr 
Theodore  Bent  has  described.  A  Natal  company  assisted 
the  Tate  diggers  with  supplies,  and  enough  gold  was  found 
to  justify  the  floating  of  the  Limpopo  Mining  Company 
in  London.  This  was  in  1868,  and  was  practically  the 
foundation  of  the  '  Kaffir  Circus,'  though  its  founders  knew 
it  not.  Sir  John  Swinburne  was  the  moving  spirit  of  this 
enterprise,  and  went  out  with  a  lot  of  expensive  machinery, 
only  to  meet  with  a  good  deal  of  disappointment.  The 
diamond  discoveries  in  Griqualand  soon  drew  away  the 
gold-seekers,  who  found  the  working  expenses  too  heavy 
to  leave  gold-mining  profitable,  and  for  a  time  the  Tate 
fields  were  deserted.  They  were  taken  up  again,  however, 
twenty  years  later  by  a  Kimberley  enterprise,  out  of  which 
developed  the  Tate  Concession  and  Exploration  Company, 
to  whom  the  unfortunate  potentate  Lobengula  granted  a 
mining  concession  over  no  less  than  eight  hundred  thou- 
sand square  miles  of  Matabeleland. 

Just  as  the  Australians  were  breaking  ground  on  the 
Tate,  Thomas  Baines,  the  traveller,  was  making  up  his 
mind  to  test  the  truth  of  tales  of  gold  in  the  far  interior, 
which  the  Portuguese  from  Da  Gama  onwards  had  received 
from  natives.  In  1869  he  set  forth  from  Natal  with  a 
small  expedition,  and  in  1870  received  from  Lobengula 
permission  to  dig  for  gold  anywhere  between  the  rivers 
Gwailo  and  Ganyona.  Some  seventeen  years  later  this 
same  concession  was  repeated  to  Mr  Rudd,  and  became 
the  basis  from  which  sprang  the  great  Chartered  Company 
of  British  South  Africa. 

In  the  course  of  his  journey,  Baines  encamped  on  the 
site  of  the  present  city  of  Johannesburg,  without  having 
the  least  idea  of  the  wealth  beneath  him,  and  intent  only 
upon  that  he  hoped  to  find  farther  inland.     On  the  map 


STORY    OF    THE    SOUTH    AFRICAN    GOLD-FIELDS.  121 

which  he  prepared  of  this  journey  is  marked  the  'farm  of 
H.  Hartley,  pioneer  of  the  gold-fields,'  in  the  Witwaters- 
randt  district.  Hartley  was  known  to  the  Boers  as  '  Oude 
Baas,'  and  was  a  famous  elephant-hunter,  but  as  ignorant 
as  Baines  himself  that  he  was  dwelling  on  the  top  of  a 
gold-reef.  And  it  was  not  in  the  Witwatersrandt,  foremost 
as  it  now  is,  that  the  African  gold  boom  began. 

While  the  Tate  diggers  were  pursuing  their  work  and 
Baines  his  explorations,  a  Natalian  named  Button  went, 
with  an  experienced  Californian  miner  named  Sutherland, 
to  prospect  for  gold  in  the  north-east  of  the  Transvaal. 
They  found  it  near  Lydenburg,  and  companies  were 
rapidly  formed  in  Natal  to  work  it.  Such  big  nuggets 
were  sent  down  that  men  hurried  up.  until  soon  there 
were  some  fifteen  hundred  actively  at  work  on  the  Lyden- 
burg field.  The  operations  were  fairly  profitable,  but  the 
outbreak  of  the  Zulu  war,  and  then  the  Boer  war,  put  an 
end  to  them  for  some  years. 

And  now  we  come  to  one  of  the  most  romantic  chapters 
in  the  golden  history  of  South  Africa,  a  history  which  was 
marked  by  hard  and  disheartening  days  what  time  the 
lucky  diamond-seekers  at  Kimberley  were  swilling  cham- 
pagne, as  if  it  were  water,  out  of  pewter  beer-pots.  There 
is  more  attraction  for  adventurers,  however,  in  gold-seeking 
than  in  diamond-mining,  for  gold  can  be  valued  and 
realised  at  once,  whereas  diamonds  may  not  be  diamonds 
after  all,  and  may  be  spoilt,  lost,  or  stolen,  before  they 
can  find  a  purchaser. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  much  as  the  Transvaal  Republic 
has  benefited  from  gold-mining,  the  Boers  were  at  first 
much  averse  to  it,  and  threw  all  the  obstacles  they  could 
in  the  way  of 'the  miners.  And  it  was  this  attitude  of  the 
Boers,  especially  towards  the  Lydenburg  pioneers,  that  led 
to  the  next  development. 

One  of  the  tributaries  of  the   Crocodile   River  (which 


122  GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 

flows  into  Delagoa  Bay)  is  the  Kaap  River,  called  also  the 
River  of  the  Little  Crocodile,  which  waters  a  wide  deep 
valley  into  which  projects  the  spur  of  a  hill  which  the 
Dutch  pioneers  called  De  Kaap  (the  cape).  Beyond  this 
cape-like  spur  the  hills  rise  to  a  height  of  three  thousand 
feet,  and  carry  a  wide  plateau  covered  with  innumerable 
boulders  of  fantastic  shape — the  Duivel's  Kantoor.  The 
mists  gather  in  the  valley  and  dash  themselves  against  De 
Kaap  like  surf  upon  a  headland  ;  and  the  face  of  the  hills 
is  broken  with  caves  and  galleries  as  if  by  the  action  of  the 
sea,  but  really  by  the  action  of  the  weather.  Upon  the 
high-lying  plateau  of  the  Duivel's  Kantoor  were  a  number 
of  farms,  the  chief  of  which  was  held  by  one  G.  P.  Moodie. 
One  day  a  Natal  trader  named  Tom  M'Laughlin  had 
occasion  to  cross  this  plateau  in  the  course  of  a  long  trek, 
and  he  picked  up  with  curiosity  some  of  the  bits  of  quartz 
he  passed,  or  kicked  aside,  on  the  way.  On  reaching 
Natal  he  showed  these  to  an  old  Australian  miner,  who 
instantly  started  up-country  and  found  more.  The  place 
was  rich  in  gold,  and  machinery  was  as  quickly  as  possible 
got  up  from  Natal,  on  to  Moodie's  farm.  On  this  farm 
was  found  the  famous  Pioneer  Reef,  and  Moodie,  who  at 
one  time  would  gladly  have  parted  with  his  farm  for  a 
few  hundreds,  sold  his  holding  to  a  Natal  company  for 
something  like  a  quarter  of  a  million.  Then  there  was  a 
rush  of  diggers  and  prospectors  back  from  the  Lydenburg 
district,  and  the  De  Kaap  'boom'  set  in.  The  beginning 
was  in  1883,  and  two  years  later  the  whole  Kaap  valley 
and  Kantoor  plateau  was  declared  a  public  gold-field. 
Two  brothers  called  Barber  came  up  and  formed  the 
centre  of  a  settlement,  now  the  town  of  Barberton.  Every 
new  reef  sighted  or  vein  discovered  was  the  signal  for 
launching  a  new  company — not  now  in  Natal  only,  but 
also  in  London,  to  which  the  gold-fever  began  to  spread 
(but  was  checked  again  by  the  De  Kaap  reverses). 


STORY    OF   THE    SOUTH    AFRICAN    GOLD-FIELDS.         I  23 

Some  fifteen  Natalians  formed  a  syndicate  to  '  exploit ' 
this  country  on  their  own  account.  Some  were  store- 
keepers in  the  colony,  some  wagon-traders,  and  some 
merely  waiters  on  fortune.  Only  eleven  of  them  had  any 
money,  and  they  supplied  the  wherewithal  for  the  other 
four,  who  were  sent  up  to  prospect  and  dig.  After  six 
months  of  fruitless  toil,  the  money  was  all  done,  and  word 
was  sent  to  the  four  that  no  more  aid  could  be  sent  to 
them.  They  were  '  down  on  their  luck,'  when  as  they 
returned  to  camp  on  what  was  intended  to  be  their  last 
evening  there,  one  Edwin  Bray  savagely  dug  his  pick  into 
the  rock  as  they  walked  gloomily  along.  But  with  one 
swing  which  he  made  came  a  turn  in  the  fortunes  of  the 
band,  and  of  the  land,  for  he  knocked  off  a  bit  of  quartz  so 
richly  veined  with  gold  as  to  betoken  the  existence  of 
something  superexcellent  in  the  way  of  a  'reef.'  All  now 
turned  on  the  rock  with  passionate  eagerness,  and  in  a 
very  short  time  pegged  out  what  was  destined  to  be  known 
as  'Bray's  Golden  Hole.' 

But  the  syndicate  were  by  this  time  pretty  well  cleaned 
out,  and  capital  was  needed  to  work  the  reef,  and  provide 
machinery,  &c.  So  a  small  company  was  formed  in  Natal 
under  the  name  of  the  Sheba  Reef  Gold-mining  Company, 
divided  into  15,000  shares  of  £1  each,  the  capital  of 
;£i 5,000  being  equitably  allotted  among  the  fifteen 
members  of  the  syndicate.  Upon  these  shares  they 
raised  enough  money  on  loan  to  pay  for  the  crushing 
of  200  tons  of  quartz,  which  yielded  eight  ounces  of  gold 
to  the  ton,  and  at  once  provided  them  with  working 
capital.  Within  a  very  few  months  the  mine  yielded 
10,000  ounces  of  gold,  and  the  original  shares  of  £1 
each  ran  up  by  leaps  and  bounds  until  they  were  eagerly 
competed  for  at  .£100  each.  Within  a  year,  the  small 
share-capital  (^15,000)  of  the  original  syndicate  was  worth 
in  the  market  a  million  and  a  half  sterling.     This  wonder- 


124  GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 

ful  success  led  to  the  floating  of  a  vast  number  of  hopeless 
or  bogus  enterprises,  and  worthless  properties  were  landed 
on  the  shoulders  of  the  British  public  at  fabulous  prices. 
Yet,  surrounded  as  it  was  by  a  crowd  of  fraudulent 
imitators,  the  great  Sheba  Mine  has  continued  as  one  of 
the  most  wonderfully  productive  mines  in  South  Africa. 
Millions  have  been  lost  in  swindling  and  impossible 
undertakings  in  De  Kaap,  but  the  Sheba  Mountain, 
in  which  was  Bray's  Golden  Hole,  has  really  proved  a 
mountain  of  gold. 

The  De  Kaap  gold-field  had  sunk  again  under  a  cloud 
of  suspicion,  by  reason  of  the  company-swindling  and 
share-gambling  which  followed  upon  the  Sheba  success, 
when  another  startling  incident  gave  a  fresh  impetus  to 
the  golden  madness. 

Among  the  settlers  in  the  Transvaal  in  the  later  seventies 
were  two  brothers  called  Struben,  who  had  had  some 
experience,  though  not  much  success,  with  the  gold- 
seekers  at  Lydenburg,  and  who  took  up  in  1884  the  farm 
of  Sterkfontein  in  the  Witwatersrandt  district.  While 
attending  to  the  farm  they  kept  their  eyes  open  for  gold, 
and  one  day  one  of  the  brothers  came  upon  gold-bearing 
conglomerates,  which  they  followed  up  until  they  struck 
the  famous  '  Confidence  Reef.'  This  remarkable  reef  at 
one  time  yielded  as  much  as  a  thousand  ounces  of  gold 
and  silver  to  the  ton  of  ore,  and  then  suddenly  gave  out, 
being  in  reality  not  a  'reef  but  a  'shoot'  There  were 
other  prospectors  in  the  district,  but  none  had  struck  it  so 
rich  as  the  Strubens,  who  purchased  the  adjacent  farm  to 
their  own,  and  set  up  a  battery  to  crush  quartz,  both  for 
themselves  and  for  the  other  gold-hunters.  The  farms 
were  worth  little  in  those  days,  being  only  suitable  for 
grazing;  but  when  prospectors  and  company  promoters 
began  to  appear,  first  by  units,  then  by  tens,  and  then  by 
hundreds,   the    Boers    put   up    their   prices,   and   speedily 


Prospecting  for  Gold. 


126 


GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 


realised  for  their  holdings  ten  and  twenty  times  what  they 
would  have  thought  fabulous  a  year  or  two  previously. 
And  it  was  on  one  of  these  farms  that  the  city  of  Johannes- 
burg was  destined  to  arise  as  if  under  a  magician's  wand, 
from  a  collection  of  huts,  in  eight  years,  to  a  city  covering 
an  area  three  miles  by  one  and  a  half,  with  suburbs 
stretching  many  miles  beyond,  with  handsome  streets  and 
luxurious  houses,  in  the  very  heart  of  the  desert. 

It  was  one  Sunday  evening  in  1886  that  the  great  'find* 
was  made  which  laid  the  base  of  the  prosperity  of  the 
Johannesburg-to-be.  A  farm-servant  of  the  brothers 
Struben  went  over  to  visit  a  friend  at  a  neighbouring  farm, 
and  as  he  trekked  homeward  in  the  evening,  knocked  off 
a  bit  of  rock,  the  appearance  of  which  led  him  to  take  it 
home  to  his  employer.  It  corresponded  with  what 
Struben  had  himself  found  in  another  part,  and  following 
up  both  leads,  revealed  what  became  famous  as  the  Main 
Reef,  which  was  traced  for  miles  east  and  west. 

A  lot  of  the  '  conglomerate '  was  sent  on  to  Kimberley 
to  be  analysed,  and  a  thoughtful  observer  of  the  analysis 
there  came  to  the  conclusion  that  there  must  be  more 
good  stuff  where  that  came  from.  So  he  mounted  his 
horse  and  rode  over  to  Barberton,  where  he  caught  a 
'  coach '  which  dropped  him  on  the  Rand,  as  it  is  now 
called.  There  he  quietly  acquired  the  Langlaagte  farm 
for  a  few  thousands,  which  the  people  on  the  spot  thought 
was  sheer  madness  on  his  part.  But  his  name  was  J.  B. 
Robinson,  and  he  is  now  known  in  the  '  Kaffir  Circus ' 
and  elsewhere  as  one  of  the  '  Gold  Kings '  of  Africa.  He 
gradually  purchased  other  farms,  and  in  a  year  or  two 
floated  the  well  -  known  Langlaagte  Company  with  a 
capital  of  ^450,000,  to  acquire  what  had  cost  him  in  all 
about  ^20,000.  In  five  years  this  company  turned  out 
gold  to  the  value  of  a  million,  and  paid  dividends  to  the 
amount  of  ^"330,000.     The  Robinson  Company,  formed 


STORY    OF   THE    SOUTH    AFRICAN    GOLD-FIELDS.  T27 

a  little  later  to  acquire  and  work  some  other  lots,  in  five 
years  produced  gold  to  the  value  of  one  and  a  half  million, 
and  paid  to  its  shareholders  some  ^570,000  in  dividends. 
With  these  discoveries  and  successful  enterprises  the  name 
and  fame  of  '  the  Rand '  were  established,  and  for  years 
the  district  became  the  happy  hunting-ground  of  the 
financiers  and  company  promoters.  The  Rand,  or  Wit- 
watersrandt,  is  the  topmost  plateau  of  the  High  Veldt  of 
the  Transvaal,  at  the  watershed  of  the  Limpopo  and  the 
Vaal ;  and  on  the  summit  of  the  plateau  is  the  gold-city 
of  Johannesburg,  some  five  thousand  seven  hundred  feet 
above  the  sea. 

Soon  the  principal  feature  in  Johannesburg  was  the  Stock 
Exchange,  and  the  main  occupation  of  the  inhabitants  was 
the  buying  and  selling  of  shares  in  mining  companies,  many 
of  them  bogus,  at  fabulous  prices.  The  inevitable  reaction 
came,  until  once  resplendent  '  brokers '  could  hardly  raise 
the  price  of  a  '  drink ; '  though,  to  be  sure,  drinks  and 
everything  else  cost  a  small  fortune.  To-day  the  city  is 
the  centre  of  a  great  mining  industry,  and  the  roar  of  the 
1  stamps '  is  heard  all  round  it,  night  and  day.  From  a 
haunt  of  gamblers  and  '  wild-catters,'  it  has  grown  into  a 
comparatively  sedate  town  of  industry,  commerce,  and 
finance,  and  the  gold-fever  which  maddened  its  populace 
has  been  transferred  (not  wholly,  perhaps)  to  London  and 
Paris. 

The  Stock  Exchange  of  Johannesburg  sprang  into  exist- 
ence in  1887,  and  before  the  end  of  that  year  some  sixty- 
eight  mining  companies  were  on  its  list,  with  an  aggregate 
nominal  capital  of  ^3, 000,000.  During  the  1895  'boom' 
in  the  market  for  mining  shares  in  London  and  Paris,  the 
market  value  of  the  shares  of  the  group  of  South  African 
companies  was  in  the  aggregate  over  ^300,000,000  !  It 
is  true  that  these  are  not  all  gold-mining  shares,  but  the 
great  majority  are  of  companies  either  for  or  in  connection 


128  GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 

with  gold-mining.  In  1887  the  Transvaal  produced  only 
about  25,000  ounces  of  gold;  in  1894  the  output  was 
2,024,159  ounces;  in  1895  it  was  2,277,633  ounces. 

Just  before  the  Californian  discoveries — namely,  in 
1849,  tne  world's  annual  output  of  gold  was  only  about 
^6,000,000.  Then  came  the  American  and  Australian 
booms,  raising  the  quantity  produced  in  1853  to  the  value 
of  ^"30,000,000.  After  1853  there  was  a  gradual  decline 
to  less  than  ^"20,000,000  in  1883.  This  was  the  lowest 
period,  and  then  the  De  Kaap  and  other  discoveries  in 
Africa  began  to  raise  the  total  slowly  again.  Between 
1883  and  1887  the  El  Callao  mine  in  South  America  and 
the  Mount  Morgan  in  Australia  helped  greatly  to  enlarge 
the  output,  and  then  in  1807  the  'Randt'  began  to  yield 
of  its  riches.  The  following  are  the  estimates  of  a  mining- 
expert  of  the  world's  gold  production  during  1890, 
^"23,700,000;  1891,^26,130,000;  1892,  ^£29,260,000; 
l893>  ;£3Mio,ooo  ;  1894,  ^£36,000,000;  1895, 
^40,000,000. 

As  to  the  future  of  the  South  African  sources  of  supply, 
it  is  estimated  by  Messrs  Hatch  and  Chalmers,  mining 
engineers,  who  have  published  an  exhaustive  work  on 
the  subject,  that  before  the  end  of  the  present  century 
the  Witwatersrandt  mines  alone  will  be  yielding  gold  to 
the  value  of  ^20,000,000  annually;  that  early  next 
century  they  will  turn  out  ^"26,000,000  annually;  and  that 
the  known  resources  of  the  district  are  equal  to  a  total 
production  within  the  next  half  century  of  ^7 00, 000,000, 
of  which,  probably,  ^200,000,000  will  be  clear  profit  over 
the  cost  of  mining. 

These  estimates  are  considered  excessive  by  some 
authorities ;  nevertheless  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the 
productivity  of  deep  level  mining  has  not  yet  been  properly 
tested,  that  even  the  Transvaal  itself  has  not  yet  been 
thoroughly  exploited,   and    that  there  is  every  reason  to 


JOHANNESBURG THE    GOLDEN.  1 29 

believe  that  Matabeleland  and  Mashonaland  are  also  rich 
in  gold.  But  we  have  not  to  look  to  Africa  alone.  In 
Australia,  besides  the  regular  sources  of  supply  which  are 
being  industriously  developed,  new  deposits  are  being 
opened  up  in  Western  Australia  at  such  a  rate  that  some 
people  predict  that  the  '  Cinderella  of  the  Colonies '  will 
soon  become  the  richest,  or  one  of  the  richest,  members 
of  the  family. 

The   following    shows    the    contributions    towards    the 
world's  gold  supply  on  the  basis  of  1894  : 

United  States ^7,950,000 

Australasia 8,352,000 

South  Africa 8,054,000 

British  Columbia  and  South  America 2,000,000 

Russia 4,827,000 

Other  Countries  4,807,000 

^35^90,000 


JOHANNESBURG THE    GOLDEN. 

The  railway  journey  from  Capetown  to  Johannesburg  of 
about  three  days  is  through  a  seemingly  endless  sandy 
country,  with  range  succeeding  range  of  distant  mountains, 
all  alike,  and  strikes  a  greater  sense  of  vastness  and  desola- 
tion than  an  expanse  of  naked  ocean  itself.  First  and 
second  class  have  sleeping  accommodation,  the  third  being 
kept  for  blacks  and  the  lowest  class  Dutch.  Well,  we  reach 
Johannesburg,  which  has  not  even  yet,  with  all  its  wealth, 
a  covered-in  railway  station  ;  whilst  by  way  of  contrast  in 
the  progress  of  the  place,  just  across  the  road  is  a  huge 
club,  with  tennis,  cricket,  football,  and  cycling  grounds, 
gymnasium,  military  band,  halls  for  dancing,  operas,  and 
oratorios,  &c,  which  will  bear  comparison  with  any  you 
please.     Its  members  are  millionaires  and  clerks,  lodgers 

1 


130  GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 

and  their  lodging-house  keepers,  all  equal  there ;  for  we 
have  left  behind  caste,  cliques,  and  cathedral  cities,  and 
are  cosmopolitan,  or,  in  a  word,  colonial.  An  institution 
like  this  gives  us  the  state  of  society  there  in  a  nut- 
shell, for,  as  wages  are  very  high,  any  one  in  anything 
like  lucrative  employment  can  belong  to  it;  and  the 
grades  in  society  are  determined  by  money,  and  money 
only. 

Johannesburg,  the  London  of  South  Africa,  which  was 
a  barren  veldt  previous  to  1886,  is  now  the  centre  of  some 
one  hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  and  increasing  about  as 
fast  as  bricks  and  mortar  can  be  obtained.  It  is  situated 
directly  on  top  of  the  gold,  and  on  looking  down  from  the 
high  ground  above,  it  looks  to  an  English  eye  like  a  huge, 
long-drawn-out  mass  of  tin  sheds,  with  its  painted  iron 
mine  -  chimneys  running  in  a  straight  line  all  along  the 
quartz  gold-reef  as  far  as  you  can  see  in  either  direction. 
The  largest  or  main  reef  runs  for  thirty  miles  uninter- 
ruptedly, gold  -  bearing  and  honeycombed  with  mines 
throughout.  This,  even  were  it  alone,  could  speak  for 
the  stability  and  continued  prosperity  of  the  Transvaal 
gold  trade.  In  a  mail-steamer  arriving  :from  the  Cape 
there  is  sometimes  as  much  as  between  ,£300,000  and 
£400,000  worth  of  gold,  and  the  newspapers  show  that 
usually  about  £100,000  worth  is  consigned  by  each  mail- 
boat. 

As  we  enter  the  town  we  find  fine  and  well-planned 
streets,  crossed  at  places  with  deep  gutters — gullies  rather 
— to  carry  off  the  water,  which  is  often  in  the  heavy 
summer  rains  deeper  than  your  knees.  Crossing  these  at 
fast  trot,  the  driver  never  drawing  rein,  the  novice  is  shot 
about,  in  his  white-covered  two-wheeled  cab  with  its  large 
springs,  like  a  pea  in  a  bladder.  Indeed,  one  marvels  at 
the  daintily  dressed  habitue  of  the  place  being  swung 
through  similarly,   quite  unconcerned,  and  without  rump- 


JOHANNESBURG THE  GOLDEN.  131 

ling  a  frill.  We  pass  fine  public  buildings,  very  high 
houses  and  shops — somewhat  jerry-built,  it  is  true — but 
now  being  added  to,  or  replaced  by  larger  and  more  solid 
buildings.  Indeed,  bricks  cannot  be  made  fast  enough 
for  the  demand,  both  there  and  in  some  of  the  outlying 
Transvaal  towns  where  the  'gold  boom'  is  on.  There 
are  lofty  and  handsome  shops,  with  most  costly  contents, 
which  can  vie  with  London  or  Paris. 

Let  us  watch  from  the  high-raised  stoep  outside  the 
Post-office,  looking  down  over  the  huge  market-square. 
What  strikes  us  first  are  the  two-wheeled  two-horse  cabs 
with  white  hoods,  recklessly  driven  by  Malays  in  the 
inseparable  red  fez,  and  these  with  the  fast-trotting  mule 
or  horse  wagons  show  the  pace  at  which  business  or 
pleasure  is  followed.  As  a  contrast  comes  the  lumbering 
ox-wagon  with  ten  or  twelve  span  of  oxen,  a  little  Kaffir 
boy  dragging  and  directing  the  leading  couple  by  a  thong 
round  the  horns,  and  the  unamiable  Dutch  farmer  re- 
volving around,  swearing,  and  using  his  fifteen-foot  whip 
to  keep  the  concern  in  motion  at  all.  Then  passes  a 
body  of  some  two  hundred  prisoners,  Kaffirs,  and  a  few 
whites  leading,  marched  in  fours  by  some  dozen  white- 
helmeted  police  and  four  or  five  mounted  men,  all  paraded 
through  the  main  streets,  innocent  and  guilty  alike,  to  the 
court-house,  and  many  escaping  e7i  route  as  occasion  offers. 
Well-dressed  English  men  of  business,  and  professional 
men,  women  in  handsome  and  dainty  costumes,  hustle 
Jews  of  all  degrees  of  wealth;  carelessly  dressed  miners, 
and  chaps  in  rags  come  in  from  prospecting  or  up-country, 
with  the  Dutchman  everywhere  in  his  greasy  soft  felt  and 
blue  tattered  puggaree,  Chinese  shopkeepers,  Italians, 
Poles,  Germans ;  whilst  outside  in  the  roadways  flows  a 
continual  stream  of  Kaffirs  in  hats  and  cast-off  clothing  of 
every  sort  imagination  can  picture,  who  are  not  allowed  by 
law  to  walk  upon  the  pavement. 


132  GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 


GOLD-FIELDS    OF    COOLGARDIE. 

It  was  at  one  time  generally  believed  that  the  unex- 
plored regions  of  the  vast  Eastern  Division  of  Western 
Australia  consisted  merely  of  sandy  desert  or  arid  plains, 
producing  at  most  scrub  and  spinifex  or  'poison  plants.' 
In  recent  years,  however,  a  faith  that  the  interior  would 
prove  rich  in  various  mineral  resources  began  to  dawn, 
and  rose  in  proportion  as  each  report  of  a  new  '  find '  was 
made  to  the  government.  But  only  a  few  ventured  to 
cherish  a  hope  that  tracts  of  fertile  country  were  lying 
beyond  their  ken,  awaiting  the  advent  of  the  explorer 
whose  verdict  upon  the  nature  of  the  soil,  or  possibilities 
of  obtaining  water,  would  result  in  settlement,  and  pros- 
perity, and  civilisation. 

By  the  opening  up  of  the  country  surrounding  Cool- 
gardie — situated  at  a  distance  of  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
eight  miles  inland  from  Fremantle,  the  port  of  Perth — it 
has  been  proved  that  not  only  thousands  of  square  miles 
of  auriferous  country  are  contained  in  these  once  despised 
1  back  blocks,'  but  also  large  areas  of  rich  pasturage  and 
forest-lands. 

At  Coolgardie  the  country  is  undulating;  and  in  the 
distance  Mount  Burgess  makes  a  bold  and  striking  feature 
in  the  landscape,  isolated  from  the  neighbouring  low  hills. 
A  few  miles  to  the  south  lies  the  vigorous  little  town, 
surrounded  by  a  halo  of  tents.  It  is  situated  thirty-one 
degrees  south,  one  hundred  and  twenty-one  degrees  east; 
the  climate  is  therefore  temperate,  though  very  hot  during 
the  dry  season.  It  has  been  judiciously  laid  out,  and 
promises  to  be  one  of  the  prettiest  inland  towns  in  the 
colony.  In  the  principal  street  all  is  bustle  and  activity : 
teams  arriving  from  Southern  Cross ;  camels  unloading  or 
being  driven  out  by  picturesque  Afghans ;  diggers  and  pros- 


GOLD-FIELDS    OF    COOLGARDIE.  1 33 

pectors  setting  out  for  distant  '  rushes  ;'  black  piccaninnies 
rolling  in  the  dust,  or  playing  with  their  faithful  kangaroo 
dogs — their  dusky  parents  lolling  near  with  characteristic 
indolence — and  men  of  every  nation  and  colour  under 
heaven  combine  to  give  the  scene  a  character  all  its  own.  In 
March  1896  Coolgardie  was  connected  by  rail  with  Perth. 

There  are  good  stores,  numerous  thriving  hotels ;  and 
a  hospital  has  lately  been  started  in  charge  of  two  trained 
nurses.  The  spiritual  needs  of  the  population  are  supplied 
by  Wesleyan  services  and  Salvation  Army  meetings,  and 
other  agencies.  As  yet  the  public  buildings  are  not 
architecturally  imposing  ;  the  principal  one  is  a  galvanised- 
iron  shed  which  does  duty  for  a  post-office.  When  the 
mail  arrives,  the  two  officials,  with  the  aid  of  an  obliging 
trooper,  vainly  endeavour  to  sort  the  letters  and  news- 
papers quickly  enough  to  satisfy  the  crowd,  all  eager  for 
news  from  home.  During  the  hot  dry  months,  Cool- 
gardie has  been  almost  cut  off  from  the  outside  world.  It 
was  found  necessary  to  limit  the  traffic  between  it  and 
Southern  Cross,  owing  to  the  great  scarcity  in  the  '  soaks ' 
and  wells  along  the  road.  Condensers  have  been  erected 
at  various  stations  close  to  the  salt  lakes,  and  the  water  is 
retailed  by  the  gallon ;  by  this  means  the  road  can  be  kept 
open  till  the  wet  season  sets  in. 

Prospectors  are  energetically  exploring  the  country  in 
every  direction  around  Coolgardie,  and  from  all  sides 
come  glowing  accounts  of  the  quality  of  the  land,  which, 
besides  being  auriferous,  is  undoubtedly  suitable  for  agri- 
cultural and  pastoral  purposes.  To  the  eastward  lie  many 
thousands  of  acres  of  undulating  pasture-land,  wooded  like 
a  park  with  morrell,  sandalwood,  wild  peach,  zimlet-wood, 
salmon-gum,  and  other  valuable  timbers.  The  soil  is  a 
rich  red  loam,  which  with  cultivation  should  equal  the 
best  wheat-growing  districts  of  Victoria.  So  green  and 
abundant  is  the  grass  that  it  has  been  described  as  looking 


134  GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 

like  an  immense  wheat-field  before  the  grain  has  formed. 
Several  kinds  of  grass  are  to  be  found  :  the  fine  kangaroo 
variety ;  a  species  of  wild  oats  ;  and  a  coarse  jointed  grass, 
all  of  which  stock  eat  with  relish,  and  thrive,  it  is  said. 

A  Water-supply  Department  has  been  formed  by  the 
Western  Australian  government,  and  measures  are  being 
taken  to  obtain  supplies  of  artesian  water,  as  well  as  to 
construct  a  system  of  reservoirs  and  dams  on  a  large  scale. 

Mr  Bayley's  discovery  of  Coolgardie  might  serve  as  an 
apt  illustration  of  the  '  early-bird '  theory.  While  on  a 
prospecting  expedition  in  September  1892,  he  went  one 
auspicious  morning  to  look  after  his  horse  before  break- 
fast. A  gleaming  object  lying  on  the  ground  caught  his 
eye.  It  was  a  nugget,  weighing  half  an  ounce.  By  noon, 
he,  with  his  mate,  had  picked  up  twenty  ounces  of  alluvial 
gold.  In  a  couple  of  weeks  they  had  a  store  of  two 
hundred  ounces.  It  was  on  a  Sunday  afternoon  that  they 
struck  the  now  world-famed  Reward  Claim,  and  in  a  few 
hours  they  had  picked  off  fifty  ounces.  Next  morning 
they  pegged  out  their  prospecting  area.  But  whilst  thus 
profitably  employed,  they  were  unpleasantly  surprised  by 
the  arrival  of  three  miners  who  had  followed  up  their 
tracks  from  Southern  Cross.  The  discoverers  worked  on 
during  the  day  at  the  cap  of  the  reef,  and  by  such  primitive 
methods  as  the  'dolly-pot,'  or  pestle  and  mortar,  easily 
obtained  three  hundred  ounces  of  the  precious  metal. 
The  unwelcome  visitors  stole  two  hundred  ounces  of  the 
gold,  a  circumstance  which  obliged  them  to  report  their 
'  find '  sooner  than  they  would  otherwise  have  done, 
fearing  that,  if  they  delayed,  the  thieves  would  do  so 
instead,  and  claim  the  reward  from  the  government. 

On  condition  that  they  would  not  molest  his  mate 
during  his  absence,  Mr  Bayley  agreed  to  say  nothing 
about  their  having  robbed  him,  and  set  out  on  his  long 
ride  to  Southern  Cross.     He  took  with  him  five  hundred 


DIAMONDS.  135 

and  fifty-four  ounces  of  gold  with  which  to  convince  the 
Warden  that  his  discovery  was  a  genuine  one.  The  field 
was  declared  open  after  his  interview  with  the  authorities. 


DIAMONDS. 


The  diamond  is  a  natural  form  of  crystallised  carbon, 
highly  valued  as  a  precious  stone,  but  of  much  less  value 
than  the  ruby.  The  lustre  of  the  diamond  is  peculiar  to 
itself,  and  hence  termed  '  adamantine.'  In  a  natural 
condition,  however,  the  surface  often  presents  a  dull, 
lead-gray,  semi-metallic  lustre.  The  high  refractive  and 
dispersive  powers  of  the  diamond  produce,  when  the 
stone  is  judiciously  cut,  a  brilliancy  and  '  fire  '  unequalled 
by  any  other  stone.  A  large  proportion  of  the  incident 
light  is  in  a  well-cut  diamond  reflected  from  the  inner 
surface  of  the  stone.  The  diamond,  especially  when 
coloured,  is  highly  phosphorescent,  that  is  to  say,  after 
exposure  to  brilliant  illumination  it  emits  the  rays  which  it 
has  absorbed,  and  thus  becomes  self-luminous  in  the  dark. 
Its  excessive  hardness  serves  to  distinguish  the  diamond 
from  other  gem-stones  :  any  stone  which  readily  scratches 
ruby  and  sapphire  must  be  a  diamond.  Notwithstanding 
its  hardness  the  diamond  is  brittle,  and  hence  the  absurdity 
of  the  ancient  test  which  professed  to  distinguish  the 
diamond  by  its  withstanding  a  heavy  blow  struck  by  a 
hammer  when  placed  on  an  anvil. 

In  recent  years,  highly  refined  researches  on  this  subject 
have  been  made  by  Dumas,  Stas,  Roscoe,  and  Friedel,  all 
tending  to  prove  that  the  diamond  is  practically  pure 
carbon.  Chemists  have  generally  experimented,  for  the 
sake  of  economy,  with  impure  specimens,  and  have  thus 
obtained  on  combustion  a  considerable  amount  of  ash,  the 
nature  of  which  has  not  been   well  ascertained.     It  has 


I36  GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 

been  shown,  however,  that   the   purer   the  diamond    the 
smaller  is  the  proportion  of  ash  left  on  its  combustion. 

The  art  of  cutting  and  polishing  the  diamond  is  said  to 
have  been  discovered  in  1456  by  Louis  de  Berguem  of 
Bruges.  As  now  practised,  the  stone  is  first,  if  necessary, 
cleaved  or  split,  and  then  '  bruted '  or  rubbed  into  shape. 
The  faces  of  the  stone  thus  '  cut '  are  ground  and  polished 


Square-cut  Brilliant. 


Round-cut  Brilliant. 


Rose-cut  Diamond. 

on  flat  metal  discs,  fed  with  diamond  dust  and  oil,  and 
revolving  with  great  rapidity  by  steam-power.  Antwerp 
comes  first,  then  Amsterdam  as  the  chief  home  of 
this  industry,  and  the  trade  is  chiefly  in  the  hands  of 
Jews ;  but  diamond  cutting  and  polishing  are  also 
now  extensively  carried  on  in  London,  Antwerp,  &c. 
The    common    form    of    the     diamond    is    either     the 


DIAMONDS.  137 

brilliant  or  the  rose  cut.  The  brilliant  resembles  two  trun- 
cated cones,  base  to  base,  the  edge  of  the  junction  being 
called  the  girdle,  the  large  plane  on  the  top  is  the  table, 
and  the  small  face  at  the  base  the  culet ;  the  sides  are 
covered  with  symmetrical  facets.  The  rose  has  a  flat  base, 
with  sides  formed  of  rows  of  triangular  facets  rising  as  a 
low  pyramid  or  hemisphere  ;  but  this  form  of  diamond  is 
daily  becoming  less  fashionable,  and  is  therefore  of  com- 
paratively little  value. 

Although  the  term  '  carat '  is  applied  to  diamonds  as 
well  as  to  gold,  it  does  not  mean  the  same  thing.  Used 
with  regard  to  the  metal,  it  expresses  quality  or  fineness — 
24-carat  being  pure  gold;  and  22-carat  equal  to  coined 
gold.  But  applied  to  the  diamond,  carat  means  actual 
weight,  and  151  \  carats  are  equal  to  one  ounce  troy. 

India  was  formerly  the  only  country  which  yielded 
diamonds  in  quantity,  and  thence  were  obtained  all  the 
great  historical  stones  of  antiquity.  The  chief  diamond- 
producing  districts  are  those  in  the  Madras  Presidency,  on 
the  Kistna  and  Godavari  rivers,  commonly  though  im- 
properly termed  the  Golconda  region ;  in  the  Central 
Provinces,  including  the  mines  of  Sumbulpur;  and  in 
Bundelkhand,  where  the  Panna  mines  are  situated. 

At  present  the  diamond  production  of  India  is  insignifi- 
cant. It  is  notable,  however,  that  in  1881  a  fine  diamond, 
weighing  67§  carats,  was  found  near  Wajra  Karur,  in  the 
Bellary  district,  Madras.  The  stone  was  cut  into  a 
brilliant  weighing  24I  carats,  and  is  known  as  the  '  Gor- 
do-Norr.' 

Brazil  was  not  regarded  as  a  diamond-yielding  country 
until  1727,  when  the  true  nature  of  certain  crystals  found 
in  the  gold  washings  of  the  province  of  Minas  Geraes  was 
first  detected.  Diamonds  occur  not  only  in  this  province, 
but  in  Bahia,  Goyaz,  Matto  Grosso,  and  Parana.  The 
geological  conditions  under  which  the  mineral  occurs  have 


138  GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 

of  late  years  been  carefully  studied  by  Professors  Derby, 
Gorceix,  and  Chatrian.  The  diamonds  are  found  in  the 
sands  and  gravels  of  river-beds,  associated  with  alluvial 
gold,  specular  iron  ore,  rutile,  anatase,  topaz,  and  tour- 
maline. In  1853  an  extraordinary  diamond  was  found  by 
a  negress  in  the  river  Bogagem,  in  Minas  Geraes.  It 
weighed  254^  carats,  and  was  cut  into  a  brilliant  of  perfect 
water,  weighing  125  carats.  This  brilliant,  known  as  the 
'  Star  of  the  South,'  was  sold  to  the  Gaikwar  of  Baroda  for 
,£80,000. 

Both  the  Indian  and  the  Brazilian  diamond-fields  have 
of  late  years  been  eclipsed  by  the  remarkable  discoveries 
of  South  Africa.  Although  it  was  known  in  the  last 
century  that  diamonds  occurred  in  certain  parts  of  South 
Africa,  the  fact  was  forgotten,  and  when  in  1867  they  were 
found  near  Hopetown,  the  discovery  came  upon  the  world 
as  a  surprise.  A  traveller  named  O'Reilly  had  rested 
himself  at  a  farm  in  the  Hopetown  district,  when  his  host, 
a  man  named  Niekerk,  brought  him  some  nice-looking 
stones  which  he  had  got  from  the  river.  O'Reilly,  when 
examining  the  pebbles,  saw  a  diamond,  which  afterwards 
realised  ,£500.  Niekerk  afterwards  bought  a  diamond  from 
a  native  for  ^"400  which  realised  ;£i  0,000.  The  principal 
mines  are  situated  in  Griqualand  West,  but  diamonds  are 
also  worked  in  the  Orange  River  Free  State,  as  at  Jagers- 
fontein.  The  stones  were  first  procured  from  the  'river 
diggings'  in  the  Vaal  and  Orange  rivers.  These  sources 
have  occasionally  yielded  large  stones;  one  found  in  1872 
at  Waldeck's  Plant  on  the  Vaal  weighed  288|  carats,  and 
yielded  a  fine  pale  yellow  brilliant,  known  as  the  'Stewart.' 

It  was  soon  found  that  the  diamonds  of  South  Africa 
were  not  confined  to  the  river  gravels,  and  '  dry  diggings ' 
came  to  be  established  in  the  so-called  'pans.'  The 
principal  mines  are  those  of  Kimberley,  De  Beer's,  Du 
Toit's  Pan,  and  Bultfontein.     The  land  here,  previously 


Kimberley  Diamond-mine, 


140  GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 

worth  only  a  few  pence  per  acre,  ?oon  rose  to  a  fabulous 
price.  At  these  localities  the  .diamonds  occur  in  a 
serpentinous  breccia,  filling  pipes  or  '  chimneys,'  generally 
regarded  as  volcanic  ducts,  which  rise  from  unknown 
depths  and  burst  through  the  surrounding  shales.  The 
'blue  ground,'  or  volcanic  breccia  containing  fragments 
of  various  rocks  cemented  by  a  serpentinous  paste, 
becomes  altered  by  meteoric  agents  as  it  approaches  the 
surface,  and  is  converted  into  'yellow  earth.'  At  Kimber- 
ley  the  neighbouring  schists,  or  '  reefs,'  are  associated  with 
sheets  of  a  basaltic  rock,  which  are  pierced  by  the  pipes. 
About  2000  white  men  are  employed  in  the  industry,  and 
about  4000  blacks,  who  earn,  on  an  average,  about  £3 
a  week.  In  the  year  1887  the  production  of  the  principal 
mines  was  over  ,£4,000,000.  The  production  for  1894 
was  somewhat  less,  while  the  total  value  of  diamonds 
exported  from  1867  to  1894  was  about  £70,000,000. 

The  great  number  of  large  stones  found  in  the  mines  of 
South  Africa,  as  compared  with  those  of  India  and  Brazil, 
is  a  striking  peculiarity.  In  the  earliest  days  of  African 
mining  a  diamond  of  about  83  carats  was  obtained  from  a 
Boer.  This  stone,  when  cut,  yielded  a  splendid  colourless 
brilliant  of  46J  carats,  known  as  the  'Star  of  South  Africa,' 
or  as  the  '  Dudley,'  since  it  afterwards  became  the  property 
of  the  Countess  of  Dudley,  at  a  cost  of  £25,000.  Some 
of  the  African  stones  are  '  off  coloured ' — that  is,  of  pale 
yellow  or  brown  tints ;  but  a  large  gem  of  singular  purity 
was  found  at  Kimberley  in  1880.  This  is  the  famous  'blue- 
white  '  diamond  of  150  carats,  known  from  the  name  of  its 
possessor  as  the  '  Porter  Rhodes.'  At  the  De  Beer's  Mine 
was  found,  in  1889,  the  famous  stone  which  was  shown  at 
the  Paris  Exposition.  It  weighed  428J  carats  in  the  rough, 
and  228!  carats  when  cut.  It  measured  one  inch  and 
seven-eighths  in  greatest  length,  and  was  about  an  inch  and 
a  half  square. 


DIAMONDS.  141 

Even  larger  than  this  remarkable  stone  is  a  diamond 
found  in  the  Jagersforitein  Mine  in  1893,  and  named  the 
'  Jagersfontein  Excelsior.'  This  is  now  the  largest  and 
most  valuable  diamond  in  the  world.  It  is  of  blue-white 
colour,  very  fine  quality,  and  measures  three  inches  at  the 
thickest  part.  The  gross  weight  of  this  unique  stone  was 
no  less  than  969^  carats  (or  about  6 J  oz.),  and  the  follow- 
ing are  its  recorded  dimensions :  Length,  2^  inches ; 
greatest  width,  2  inches;  smallest  width,  i-i-  inches;  ex- 
treme girth  in  width,  5§  inches ;  extreme  girth  in  length, 
6 J  inches.  It  is  impossible  to  say  what  is  the  value  of 
so  phenomenal  a  gem.  We  do  not  know  that  an  estimate 
has  been  even  attempted ;  but  it  may  easily  be  half  a 
million  if  the  cutting  is  successful.  The  diamond  has, 
however,  a  black  flaw  in  the  centre.  It  is  the  property  of 
a  syndicate  of  London  diamond  merchants.  The  native 
who  found  it  evaded  the  overseer,  and  ran  to  headquarters 
to  secure  the  reward,  which  took  the  form  of  jQ  100  in  gold 
and  a  horse  and  cart. 

Previous  to  this  discovery,  the  most  famous  of  the  African 
diamonds  was,  perhaps,  the  '  Pam '  or  '  Jagersfontein ' 
stone,  not  so  much  from  its  size,  as  because  the  Queen 
had  ordered  it  to  be  sent  to  Osborne  for  her  inspection 
with  a  view  to  purchase,  when  the  untimely  death  of  the 
Duke  of  Clarence  put  an  end  to  the  negotiations.  The 
'  Pam  '  is  only  of  55  carats  now  ;  but  it  weighed  112  carats 
before  being  cut,  and  is  a  stone  of  remarkable  purity  and 
beauty.  Its  present  value  is  computed  at  about  twenty- 
five  thousand  pounds  sterling. 

The  most  valuable  diamond  in  the  world  is  (if  it  is  a 
diamond)  the  famous  'Braganza'  gem  belonging  to 
Portugal.  It  weighed  in  the  rough  state  1680  carats,  and 
was  valued  at  upwards  of  5^-  millions  sterling. 

It  has  long  been  known  that  diamonds  occur  in 
Australia,  but  hitherto  the  Australian  stones  have  been  all 


I42  GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 

of  small  size,  and  it  is  notable  that  these  are  much  more 
difficult  to  cut,  being  harder  than  other  diamonds.  Al- 
though Victoria  and  South  Australia  have  occasionally 
yielded  diamonds,  it  is  New  South  Wales  that  has  been 
the  principal  producer.  The  chief  diamond  localities  have 
been  near  Mudgee,  on  the  Cudjegong  River,  and  near 
Bingera,  on  the  river  Horton. 

Borneo  also  yields  diamonds.  The  stone  known  as  the 
1  Matan '  is  said  to  have  been  found  in  1787  in  the  Landak 
mines,  near  the  west  coast  of  Borneo.  It  is  described  as 
being  an  egg-shaped  stone,  indented  on  one  side,  and 
weighing,  in  its  uncut  state,  367  carats.  Great  doubt, 
however,  exists  as  to  the  genuineness  of  this  stone,  and 
the  Dutch  experts  who  examined  it  a  few  years  ago  pro- 
nounced it  to  be  simply  rock-crystal.  Among  other 
diamond  localities  may  be  mentioned  the  Ural  Mountains 
and  several  of  the  United  States.  The  largest  diamond 
yet  recorded  from  North  America  was  found  at  Man- 
chester, Chesterfield  county,  Virginia.  It  weighed  23% 
carats,  and  yielded,  when  cut,  a  brilliant  known  as  the 
'Ou-i-nur,'  which  weighed,  however,  only  nf  carats. 

A  few  special  diamonds,  from  their  exceptional  size  or 
from  the  circumstances  of  their  history,  deserve  notice. 
Of  all  the  great  diamonds,  the  '  Koh-i-nur '  is  perhaps  the 
most  interesting.  While  tradition  carries  it  back  to 
legendary  times,  it  is  known  from  history  that  the  Sultan 
Ala-ed-din  in  1304  acquired  this  gem  on  the  defeat  of  the 
Rajah  of  Malwa,  whose  family  had  possessed  it  for  many 
generations.  In  1526  it  passed  by  conquest  to  Humaiun, 
the  son  of  Sultan  Baber.  When  Aurungzebe  subsequently 
possessed  this  stone,  he  used  it  as  one  of  the  eyes  of  the 
peacock  adorning  his  famous  peacock  throne.  On  the 
conquest  of  Mohammed  Shah  by  Nadir  Shah  in  1739,  the 
great  diamond  was  not  found  among  the  Delhi  treasures, 
but  learning  that  Mohammed  carried  it  concealed  in  his 


DIAMONDS.  143 

turban,  Nadir,  on  the  grand  ceremony  of  reinstating  the 
Mogul  emperor  on  the  throne  at  the  conclusion  of  peace, 
offered  to  exchange  turbans,  in  token  of  reconciliation, 
and  by  this  ruse  obtained  possession  of  the  gem.  It  was 
when  Nadir  first  saw  the  diamond  on  unfolding  the  turban, 
that  he  exclaimed  '  Koh-i-nur,'  or  '  Mountain  of  Light,'  the 
name  by  which  the  gem  has  ever  since  been  known.  At 
Nadir's  death  it  passed  to  his  unfortunate  son,  Shah  Rokh, 
by  whom  it  was  ultimately  given  to  Ahmed  Shah,  the 
founder  of  the  Durani  Afghan  empire.  By  Ahmed  it  was 
bequeathed  to  his  son,  Taimur  Shah  ;  and  from  his  de- 
scendants it  passed,  after  a  series  of  romantic  incidents,  to 
Runjit-Singh.  On  the  death  of  Runjit,  in  1839,  the 
diamond  was  preserved  in  the  treasury  of  Lahore,  and  on 
the  annexation  of  the  Punjab  by  the  British  in  1849,  when 
the  property  of  the  state  was  confiscated  to  the  East  India 
Company,  it  was  stipulated  that  the  Koh-i-nur  should  be 
presented  to  the  Queen  of  England.  It  was  consequently 
taken  in  charge  by  Lord  Dalhousie,  who  sent  it  to  England 
in  1850.  After  the  Great  Exhibition  of  185 1,  where  it 
had  been  exhibited,  it  was  injudiciously  re-cut  in  London 
by  Voorsanger,  a  skilful  workman  from  Messrs  Coster's 
factory  at  Amsterdam.  The  re-cutting  occupied  38  days 
of  12  hours  each,  and  the  weight  of  the  stone  was  reduced 
from  i86TTg  to  106^  carats.  The  form  is  that  of  a 
shallow  brilliant,  too  thin  to  display  much  fire.  Accord- 
ing to  Lady  Burton,  it  is  believed  to  bring  ill-luck  to  its 
possessor. 

The  '  Nizam '  is  the  name  of  a  stone  said  to  have  been 
found  in  the  once  famous  diamond-mines  of  Golconda. 
Sir  William  Hunter,  however,  gives  us  to  understand  that 
there  were  really  no  diamond-mines  at  Golconda,  and  that 
the  place  won  its  name  by  cutting  the  stones  found  on  the 
eastern  borders  of  the  Nizam's  territory,  and  on  a  ridge 
of  sandstone  running  down  to  the  rivers  Kistna  and  God- 


144  GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 

avery,  in  the  Madras  Presidency.  However  that  may 
have  been,  both  regions  are  now  unproductive  of  valuable 
stones.  The  'Nizam'  diamond  is  said  to  weigh  340 
carats,  and  to  be  worth  ^200,000 ;  but  we  are  unable  to 
verify  the  figures. 

The  '  Great  Table '  is  another  Indian  diamond,  the 
present  whereabouts  of  which  is  not  known.  It  is  said  to 
weigh  242 J  carats,  and  that  500,000  rupees  (or  at  par, 
^50,000)  was  once  refused  for  it.  The  'Great  Table'  is 
sometimes  known  as  '  Tavernier's '  diamond.  It  was  the 
first  blue  diamond  ever  seen  in  Europe,  and  was  brought, 
in  1642,  from  India  by  Tavernier.  It  was  sold  to  Louis 
XIV.  in  1668,  and  was  described  then  as  of  a  beautiful 
violet  colour;  but  it  was  flat  and  badly  cut.  At  what 
date  it  was  re-cut  we  know  not,  but,  as  possessed  by  Louis 
Le  Grand,  it  weighed  only  67^  carats.  It  was  seized 
during  the  Revolution,  and  was  placed  in  the  Garde 
Meuble ;  but  it  disappeared,  and  has  not  been  traced 
since.  Some  fifty  years  later,  Mr  Henry  Hope  purchased 
a  blue  diamond  weighing  some  441  carats  (now  known  as 
the  'Hope'  diamond),  which  it  was  conjectured  may 
have  been  part  of  the  '  Great  Table.'  It  is  preserved  in 
the  Green  Vaults,  Dresden,  and  is  regarded  as  one  of  the 
most  superb  coloured  diamonds  known. 

Another  famous  Indian  diamond  is  the  '  Great  Mogul,' 
which  appears  to  have  been  found  about  1650,  in  the 
Kollur  mine,  on  the  Kistna.  It  was  seen  by  the  French 
jeweller  Tavernier  at  the  court  of  Aurungzebe  in  1665, 
and  is  described  as  a  round  white  rose-cut  stone  of  280 
carats.  Its  subsequent  history  is  unknown,  and  it  is 
probable  that  at  the  sacking  of  Delhi  by  Nadir  Shah  in 
1739  ^  was  stolen  and  broken  up.  Some  authorities  have 
sought  to  identify  the  Great  Mogul  with  the  Koh-i-nur, 
and  others  with  the  Orloff. 

The  '  Orloff'  is  an  Indian  stone  which  was  purchased  at 


146  GOLD   AND   DIAMONDS. 

Amsterdam  in  1776  by  Prince  OrlofT  for  Catharine  II.  of 
Russia.  The  stone  at  one  time  formed  the  eye  of  an  idol 
in  a  temple  in  the  island  of  Seringham,  in  Mysore,  whence 
it  is  said  to  have  been  stolen  by  a  French  soldier,  who 
sold  it  to  an  English  trader  for  ^2000.  The  Englishman 
brought  it  home,  and  sold  it  for  ^12,000  to  a  Jew,  who 
passed  it  on  at  a  profit  to  an  Armenian  merchant.  From 
the  Armenian  it  was  acquired,  either  by  Catharine  of 
Russia,  or,  for  her,  by  one  of  her  admirers,  for  ^90,000 
and  a  pension.  It  is  now  valued  at  ^100,000.  It  weighs 
193  carats,  is  about  the  size  of  a  pigeon's  egg,  and  is 
mounted  in  the  imperial  sceptre  of  the  Czar. 

Other  famous  stones  are :  The  '  Austrian  Yellow,'  be- 
longing to  the  crown  of  Austria,  weighing  76*-  carats,  and 
valued  at  ^50,000 ;  the  '  Cumberland,'  belonging  to  the 
crown  of  Hanover,  weighing  32  carats,  and  worth  at  least 
,£10,000;  the  'English  Dresden,' belonging  to  the  Gaik- 
war  of  Baroda,  weighing  76  J  carats,  and  valued  at 
^40,000  ;  the  '  Nassak ' — which  the  Marquis  of  West- 
minster wore  on  the  hilt  of  his  sword  at  the  birthday 
ceremonial  immediately  after  the  Queen's  accession — 
which  weighs  78J  carats,  and  is  valued  at  ^3 0,000. 

The  'Regent'  is  a  famous  diamond  preserved  among 
the  national  jewels  in  Paris.  It  was  found  in  1701,  at  the 
Parteal  mines,  on  the  Kistna,  by  a  slave,  who  escaped 
with  it  to  the  coast,  where  he  sold  it  to  an  English  skipper, 
by  whom  he  was  afterwards  treacherously  killed.  Thomas 
Pitt,  grandfather  of  the  first  Earl  of  Chatham,  at  that  time 
governor  of  Fort  St  George,  purchased  the  stone,  and  had 
it  re-cut  in  London,  whence  it  is  often  known  as  the 
'Pitt'  Its  original  weight  was  410  carats,  but  it  was 
reduced  in  cutting  to  136^ ;  the  result,  however,  was  a 
brilliant  of  fine  water  and  excellent  proportions.  Pitt  sold 
it  in  17 17,  through  the  financier  John  Law,  to  the  Duke 
of  Orleans,  then  Regent  of  France  during  the  minority  of 


THE    HON.    CECIL   J.    RHODES.  147 

Louis  XV.  The  price  paid  was  .£135,000,  and  its 
value  has  since  been  estimated  at  £"480,000.  The 
stone  is  now  among  the  French  jewels  in  the  Museum 
of  Paris. 

The  large  '  Sancy '  is  an  historical  diamond,  about  which 
many  contradictory  stories  have  been  told.  It  appears 
that  the  Sancy  was  an  Indian  stone,  purchased  about  1570 
by  M.  de  Sancy,  French  ambassador  at  Constantinople.  It 
passed  temporarily  into  the  possession  of  Henry  III.  and 
Henry  IV.  of  France,  and  was  eventually  sold  by  Sancy 
to  Queen  Elizabeth  of  England.  By  James  II.  it  was  dis- 
posed of  to  Louis  XIV.,  about  1695,  for  £"25,000.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  19th  century  it  passed  to  the  Demidoff 
family  in  Russia,  and  by  them  it  was  sold  in  1865  to  Sir 
Jamsetjee  Jeejeebhoy.  In  1889  it  was  again  in  the  market, 
the  price  asked  being  £"20,000. 

The  Russian  diamond,  '  Moon  of  Mountains,'  is  set  in 
the  imperial  sceptre,  weighs  120  carats,  and  is  valued  at 
450,000  roubles,  or,  say,  about  £75,000.  The  'Mountain 
of  Splendour,'  belonging  to  the  Shah  of  Persia,  weighs  135 
carats,  and  is  valued  at  £"145,000.  In  the  Persian  regalia 
there  is  said  to  be  another  diamond,  called  the  'Abbas 
Mirza,'  weighing  130  carats,  and  worth  £"90,000. 


THE    HON.    CECIL   J.    RHODES,    THE    DIAMOND    KING. 

We  get  a  good  insight  into  the  character  of  Mr  Rhodes 
from  all  his  utterances  and  public  acts  ;  and  an  anecdote 
about  him  when  busy  with  the  work  that  made  him  famous 
as  the  '  Diamond  King,'  the  amalgamation  of  the  diamond- 
mines,  shows  up  the  man.  He  was  looking  at  a  map  of 
Africa  hung  in  the  office  of  a  Kimberley  merchant.  After 
looking  at  it  closely  for  some  time,  he  placed  his  hand 
over  a  large  part  of  Southern  and  Central  Africa,  right 


148  GOLD    AND    DIAMONDS. 

across  the  continent,  and  turning  to  a  friend  at  his 
side,  said,  '  There,  all  that  British  !  That  is  my  dream.' 
*  I  give  you  ten  years,'  said  his  friend.  When  he  was  in 
power  at  the  Cape,  and  the  times  were  ripe,  his  dream  was 
realised,  and  the  shield  of  the  great  White  Queen  was 
thrown  over  North  and  South  Zambesia,  and  railway  and 
telegraphic  communication  was  being  pushed  on  towards 
the  equator. 

The  Right  Hon.  Cecil  John  Rhodes  is  the  fourth  son  of 
a  clergyman,  of  Bishop  Stortford,  where  he  was  born  in 
1853.  He  was  educated  at  the  local  school,  but  his 
health  being  far  from  good,  he  was  sent  to  Natal  to  join 
his  elder  brother,  a  planter  there.  Both  brothers  made 
for  Kimberley  at  the  first  diamond  rush,  Cecil  going  into 
partnership  as  a  diamond  digger  with  Mr  C.  U.  Rudd, 
who  had  also  gone  out  to  South  Africa  for  his  health. 
While  at  Kimberley,  young  Rhodes  read  sufficiently  to 
enable  him  to  pass  at  Oxford.  His  crowning  achievement 
of  the  union  of  the  De  Beers  Company  and  the  Kimberley 
Central  Company  was  not  the  work  of  a  day,  but  it  was 
accomplished  largely  through  Mr  Rhodes's  financial  skill, 
and  became  known  as  the  De  Beers  Consolidated  Mines, 
of  which  he  was  elected  chairman  and  one  of  the  life 
governors.  The  capital  valuation  of  the  company  now 
stands  at  about  twenty-five  millions.  Regular  dividends  of 
twenty-five  per  cent,  have  been  paid  for  some  years.  It 
was  natural  that  an  influential  man  like  Mr  Rhodes  should 
be  sent  to  the  Cape  Parliament,  and  in  1889  he  rose  to 
be  a  member  of  the  Cabinet.  Another  successful  attempt 
at  company  promoting  was  his  association  with  Mr  Rudd 
in  the  Transvaal  gold-fields.  At  first  their  mines  on  the 
Witwatersrandt  did  not  turn  out  well ;  but  it  is  long  since 
they  began  to  pay  enormously,  the  net  profits  of  1894 
being  over  two  millions,  while  the  market  value  of  the 
concern  is  ten  millions  sterling. 


THE    HON.    CECIL    J.    RHODES.  149 

Several  gold  prospectors  had  dealings  with  and  con- 
cessions from  Lobengula,  in  Matabeleland,  before  Mr 
Rudd  and  Mr  Rhodes  joined  forces  in  1888  and  secured 
mineral  concessions  covering  the  whole  of  his  kingdom. 
Then  came  the  launching  of  the  Chartered  Company, 
incorporated  in  October  1889,  with  a  capital  of  one 
million,  which  has  since  been  raised  to  two  and  a  half 
millions.  Then  Mashonaland  was  prospected,  and  forts 
built  and  roads  were  made,  and  the  telegraph  was  carried 
on  to  Salisbury,  giving  connection  with  the  Cape.  When 
it  was  found  that  the  settlers  could  not  live  in  peace  with 
Lobengula,  a  force  under  Dr  Jameson,  the  administrator, 
broke  the  power  of  the  Matabele  in  the  autumn  of  1893. 
The  only  serious  affair  was  the  deaths  of  forty-nine  men  of 
Wilson's  column.  Since  that  time  the  country  has  been 
slowly  settled,  and  the  railway  is  being  pushed  on  to 
Buluwayo.  Mr  Rhodes  has  interested  himself  also 
in  pushing  on  the  telegraph  system  towards  the  Great 
Central  African  lakes,  by  way  of  Zumbo,  in  the  Central 
African  Protectorate,  under  the  capable  rule  of  Sir  H.  H. 
Johnston.  Matabeleland  is  an  excellent  pastoral  country, 
and  if  a  sufficient  number  of  agricultural  emigrants  could 
be  got  to  remain  and  develop  the  territory,  its  future 
would  be  secured.  Unfortunately,  this  class  of  emigrant 
has  hitherto  been  lacking  in  South  Africa — the  gold  and 
diamond  fields  have  been  too  tempting — but  in  time, 
doubtless,  the  slow  and  sure  sort  of  emigrant  will  find  it  to 
his  interest  to  develop  the  land. 

The  residence  of  Mr  Rhodes  is  at  Groote  Schnur, 
Rondebosch,  near  Cape  Town.  In  the  twelve  hundred 
acres  which  surround  the  house  there  are  charming  views, 
and  a  natural  Zoo,  upon  which  he  is  said  to  have  spent  at 
least  one  hundred  thousand  pounds.  He  has  thrown  this 
place  open  to  pleasure-seekers  from  the  Cape  for  all  time 
coming.     He  enjoys  riding  over  his  estate,  and  watching 


150  GOLD    AND   DIAMONDS. 

the  visitors  enjoying  themselves.  Lord  Salisbury  once 
termed  him  a  '  remarkable  man.'  This  is  well  borne  out 
by  all  who  have  come  in  contact  with  him.  '  He  presents,' 
says  the  African  Review,  i  a  character  that  is  well  worthy 
of  analysis — that  is  a  curious  compound  of  generosity  and 
almost  repellent  cynicism,  of  disinterestedness  and  ambi- 
tion, of  large  aims  that  are  dependent  on  things  that  are 
essentially  trivial ;  the  keen,  hard-tempered  character  of  a 
self-made  man  who  has  carved  a  career  out  of  Kimberley 
finance  and  Cape  Colonial  politics.  ...  Of  giant  force  of 
mind  and  will,  with  practised  judgment  that  nearly  amounts 
to  intuitive  perception,  with  a  grasp  of  cause  and  effect 
that  is  founded  upon  a  microscopic  observation  of  the  laws 
of  nature,  he  is  decidedly  a  big  man.  He  is  a  rarely 
accurate  critic  of  his  fellow-mortals.' 

Dr  Jameson  prophesied,  when  in  this  country  in  1895, 
that  the  annexation  and  occupation  of  Matabeleland  and 
Mashonaland  meant  more  than  mere  annexation  of  terri- 
tory, but  would  lead  to  a  commercial  union,  amalgamation, 
or  federation  of  South  African  states.  In  Rhodesia,  a 
country  nearly  as  large  as  Europe,  white  men  and  women 
could  live,  and  white  children  could  be  reared  in  health 
and  vigour.  Gold  was  to  be  found  there,  and  coal  and 
iron.  The  country  has  been  settled  since  the  power  of 
Lobengula  was  broken,  and  the  road  and  railway  are  doing 
their  beneficent  work.  The  revenue  for  1894  nearly 
balanced  the  expenditure. 

When  Mashonaland  and  Matabeleland  needed  the  rail- 
way, Mr  Rhodes  was  still  the  key  of  the  position.  '  Kriiger 
will  not  let  us  take  the  Kimberley  line  into  his  country  ? 
Very  well,'  in  effect  said  Mr  Rhodes,  'we  will  take  it 
round  him,  and  beyond,  on  the  way  to  the  Transvaal  of 
the  Zambesi.'  And  so  the  matter  was  arranged  between 
the  Imperial  and  Colonial  government  and  the  Chartered 
Company.     So  much  land  was  to  be  given  for  taking  the 


THE    HON.    CECIL   J.    RHODES. 


*5i 


line  to  Vryburg,  so  much  to  Mafeking,  in  connection  with 
the  main  trunk  line  from  the  Cape. 

Dr  Jameson's  raid  into  Transvaal  territory,  early  in  1896, 
ostensibly  taken  for  the  purpose  of  helping  the  people  of 
Johannesburg,  who  complained  of  their  treatment  by  the 
Boer  government,  and  the  complications  which  ensued,  led 
to  the  resignation  of  Mr  Rhodes  as  a  member  of  the  Cape 
government,  when  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  develop- 
ment of  Rhodesia,  the  new  and  promising  territory,  which 
has  been  so  named  after  him. 


African  Village. 


CHAPTER    VI. 
BIG  GUNS,  SMALL-ARMS,  AND  AMMUNITION. 

Woolwich  Arsenal — Enfield  Small-arms  Factory — Lord  Armstrong 
and  the  Elswick  Works — Testing  Guns  at  Shoeburyness — Hiram 
S.  Maxim  and  the  Maxim  Machine  Gun — The  Colt  Automatic  Gun 
— Ironclads — Submarine  Boats. 


WOOLWICH    ARSENAL. 

INCE  early  days,  Woolwich  has  been  an  im- 
portant centre  for  warships  and  war-material. 
Here  ships  were  built  and  launched  when 
England  first  began  to  have  a  navy  of  specially 
constructed  men-of-war,  for  Henry  VIII.  estab- 
lished the  Woolwich  dockyard,  and  also  appointed  Com- 
missioners of  the  navy,  and  formed  the  Navy  Office. 
Some  of  the  earliest  three-deckers,  or,  as  we  may  almost 
call  them,  five-deckers,  were  built  at  this  dockyard ;  and 
of  these  the  most  famous  was  the  Great  Harry,  so  named 
after  the  king,  which  was  launched  here  in  15 14.  For  the 
period,  the  ship  was  a  large  one,  being  of  a  thousand  tons 
burden ;  though  we  should  not  think  much  of  her  size  now, 
when  we  have  ironclads  of  over  eleven  thousand  tons. 
There  are  models  of  her  in  the  Greenwich  Naval  Museum, 
which  is  not  far  from  Woolwich ;  and  a  curious  lofty 
wooden  castle  she  is,  rising  far  up  above  the  water-line, 
and  offering  a  fair  target,  if  the  cannon  of  those  days  had 
any  accuracy. 


WOOLWICH    ARSENAL. 


153 


On  June  3,  1559,  Queen  Elizabeth  came  down  to  Wool- 
wich to  witness  the  launch  of  a  large  ship  called  after  her 
name.  In  1637  a  ship  half  as  large  again  as  the  Great  Harry 
was  launched  at  Woolwich.  She  was  the  marvel  of  her 
days,  and  though  named  the  Royal  Sovereign,  was  more 
often  called  the  Golden  Devil,  from  the  amount  of  mischief 
she  wrought  in  the  Dutch  fleet.  Her  guns  were  probably 
of  small  size ;  but  she  carried  enough  of  them  on  her  three 


The  Great  Harry. 


flush-decks,  her  forecastle,  her  half-deck,  her  quarter-deck, 
and  in  her  round-house ;  for  in  her  lower  tier  were  sixty 
ports;  in  the  middle,  thirty;  in  the  third,  twenty-six;  in 
her  forecastle  were  twelve  ;  in  her  half-deck  were  fourteen. 
She  was  decorated  in  the  emblematical  style  of  the  time 
with  gilding  and  carvings ;  and  these  designs  were  the 
work  of  one  Thomas  Haywood,  an  actor,  who  has  left  us 
an  account  of  the  ship  which  he  adorned,  in  a  quarto 
volume    published     the     same    year    in    which    she   was 


154  BIG    GUNS,    SMALL-ARMS,    AND    AMMUNITION. 

launched.  We  can  imagine  what  she  looked  like,  with 
her  lofty  forecastle  and  poop,  the  latter  provided  with 
five  lanterns,  one  of  which,  we  are  told,  was  large  enough 
to  contain  ten  persons. 

Old  Samuel  Pepys  gives  us  many  references  to  Wool- 
wich in  his  famous  Diary.  He  paid  frequent  visits  to  the 
dockyard  on  his  duties  as  Secretary  to  the  Admiralty,  and 
seems  to  have  looked  after  his  business  well.  For  in- 
stance, on  June  3,  1662,  he  writes:  *  Povy  and  Sir  W. 
Batten  and  I  by  water  to  Woolwich ;  and  there  saw  an 
experiment  made  of  Sir  R.  Ford's  Holland  yarn,  about 
which  we  have  lately  had  so  much  stir ;  and  I  have  much 
concerned  myself  for  our  rope-maker,  Mr  Hughes,  who 
represented  it  so  bad  ;  and  we  found  it  to  be  very  bad, 
and  broke  sooner  than,  upon  a  fair  trial,  five  threads  of 
that  against  four  of  Riga  yarn  ;  and  also  that  some  of  it 
had  old  stuff  that  had  been  tarred,  covered  over  with  new- 
hemp,  which  is  such  a  cheat  as  hath  not  been  heard  of.' 
The  next  month  he  is  looking  after  the  hemp  again,  and 
writes  :  '  To  Woolwich  to  the  rope-yard,  and  there  looked 
over  several  sorts  of  hemp,  and  did  fall  upon  my  great 
survey  of  seeing  the  working  and  experiments  of  the 
strength  and  charge  in  the  dressing  of  every  sort ;  and  I 
do  think  have  brought  it  to  so  great  a  certainty,  as  I  have 
done  the  king  some  service  in  it,  and  do  purpose  to  get 
it  ready  against  the  Duke's  coming  to  town  to  present  to 
him.'  He  adds  pathetically  :  '  I  see  it  is  impossible  for 
the  king  to  have  things  done  as  cheap  as  other  men.' 

Of  as  early  date  probably  as  the  dockyard,  was  the 
'WTarren,'  the  name  by  which  the  Arsenal  was  formerly 
called.  This  establishment  seems  to  have  begun  as  a 
cannon-foundry,  and  such,  indeed,  it  -chiefly  continues 
to  be.  Moreover,  in  other  days  when  the  dockyard 
flourished,  stores  of  ships'  cannon  were  kept  here,  ready 
to  be  placed  on  ships  as  soon  as  commissioned.     But  now 


WOOLWICH    ARSENAL.  155 

that  the  dockyard  is  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  now  that  the 
large  building-slips,  workshops,  and  ropewalk  are  empty, 
the  cannon  at  the  Arsenal  are  chiefly  those  for  the  royal 
artillery  and  for  forts.  The  dockyard  has  been  closed 
since  1869;  its  broad  roads  are  deserted,  its  workshops 
are  silent,  and  its  large  sheds  are  only  used  for  stores ;  but 
the  Arsenal  has  increased  in  magnitude  ;  and  the  'Warren,' 
in  which,  before  the  establishment  of  the  Plumstead  maga- 
zines, powder  was  proved  ('before  the  principal  engineers 
and  officers  of  the  Board  of  Ordnance,  to  which  many  of 
the  nobility  and  gentry  were  often  invited,  and  afterwards 
sumptuously  entertained  by  them'),  has  now  become  an 
enormous  establishment,  covering  acres  of  ground,  and 
containing  workshops  provided  with  the  most  complicated 
machinery,  and  foundries  of  enormous  size.  It  is  round 
this  Arsenal  that  we  propose  to  take  the  reader. 

Having  gained  admittance,  the  visitor  is  put  in  charge 
of  a  guide.  The  tapping  of  the  great  furnace  is  a  remark- 
able sight.  A  stream  of  molten  steel  runs  into  a  huge 
tank  which  can  contain  four  or  five  tons  of  metal,  and 
this  tank  is  dragged  off  by  some  score  of  men  to  fill 
the  various  moulds.  It  is  remarkable,  also,  to  see  a  huge 
steam-hammer  of  some  forty  tons'  force  welding  a  mass  of 
metal  at  white-heat. 

The  Arsenal  is  divided  into  four  departments  —  the 
Laboratory,  the  Gun  Factory,  the  Gun-carriage  Depart- 
ment, and  the  Stores;  and  of  these  four  divisions,  the  first 
two  contain  the  chief  things  not  to  be  found  in  very  many 
other  places. 

The  Gun-carriage  Department  has  workshops  both  for 
metal  and  wood  work,  and  each  branch  contains  many 
subdivisions.  There  is  nothing,  however,  in  this  depart- 
ment which  is  peculiar  to  the  Arsenal,  with  the  exception, 
of  course,  of  the  special  articles  which  are  manufactured ; 
that  is  to  say,  forging,  steam-carpentering,  wheel-making, 


156  BIG    GUNS,    SMALL-ARMS,   AND    AMMUNITION. 

and  so  on,  are  carried  out  as  they  would  be  executed 
elsewhere.  The  guides  always  make  a  point  of  showing 
the  wheel-shoeing  pit,  as  it  is  called,  in  which  the  tyre  is 
put  on  a  gun-wheel.  The  machinery  in  this  department  is 
very  complete,  especially  in  the  carpenters'  shops,  where 
the  lathes  which  work  automatically,  and  turn  wheel- 
spokes  and  such  things  according  to  a  given  pattern,  and 
the  steam-saws  for  cutting  dovetails  for  sides  of  boxes,  and 
other  machinery,  are  all  constructed  on  highly  ingenious 
principles.  With  regard  to  the  articles  constructed,  the 
trail  of  a  gun  may  be  followed  in  all  stages  of  its  con- 
struction until  it  appears  complete  with  its  wheels,  and 
ready  for  the  gun  to  be  placed  on  it.  Here,  too,  may  be 
seen  the  ingenious  MoncriefT  gun-carriage,  by  which  the 
gun  is  only  raised  above  a  fortification  at  the  moment 
when  it  is  fired,  the  '  sighting '  being  done  from  below  by 
an  arrangement  of  mirrors. 

The  Stores,  again,  are  remarkable  only  for  the  quantity 
of  material  stowed  away  ready  for  use.  For  instance, 
there  are  ten  thousand  complete  sets  of  harness  for  guns 
and  baggage  wagons  always  kept  in  stock.  But  when  the 
visitor  has  just  walked  once  through  these  storehouses,  he 
will  probably  have  seen  all  that  he  cares  to  see  there. 

It  is,  however,  when  we  come  to  the  Gun  Factory  that 
the  special  interest  of  the  Arsenal  begins.  Imagine  a  huge 
mass  of  steel  welded — for  casting  would  not  give  sufficient 
strength — into  the  form  of  the  trunk  of  a  large  fir-tree,  and 
you  have  the  first  stage  of  a  gun's  existence.  This  solid 
mass  is  to  form  the  tube  of  a  cannon,  and  the  solid  core 
has  to  be  removed  by  ingenious  and  powerful  machinery. 
It  takes  a  week  or  two  to  bore  the  interior  of  some  of  the 
larger  guns.  Some  of  the  machines  are  constructed  to 
bore  a  hole  which  is  continually  enlarged  by  successive 
tools  ;  while  others  actually  cut  out  a  round  solid  mass 
from  the  interior.     The  tube  has  also  to  be  subjected  to 


WOOLWICH    ARSENAL.  I  57 

the  process  of  being  turned  both  within  and  without,  and 
it  is  then  lit  for  the  next  process,  which  is  that  of  cutting 
the  grooves  within  it  which  give  the  required  spin  to  the 
projectile,  commonly  called  rifling.  This  is  a  delicate  and 
intricate  process,  for  the  utility  of  the  gun  of  course 
depends  largely  on  the  accuracy  with  which  the  grooves 
are  made.  The  actual  cutting  is  performed  by  a  machine 
which  travels  up  the  tube  at  the  required  spiral ;  but  as 
the  work  proceeds,  the  man  in  charge  carefully  examines 
the  grooves  along  their  whole  length  with  the  aid  of  a, 
candle  fixed  at  the  end  of  a  long  rod  which  he  pushes  up 
the  tube. 

But  when  the  tube  has  been  bored,  turned,  and  rifled, 
the  gun  is  by  no  means  finished.  The  tube  by  itself 
would  be  far  too  delicate  for  the  large  charges  of  powder 
employed  ;  and,  consequently,  it  has  to  be  fitted  at  the 
breech  end  with  two  or  three  outer  cases  or  jackets,  the 
outside  one  of  which  bears  the  trunnions  on  which  the 
gun  rests.  At  last  the  gun  is  completed ;  and  the  next 
thing  is  to  subject  it  to  a  severe  test  by  firing  from  it  a 
charge  of  powder  proportioned  to  its  size.  For  this 
purpose,  it  has  to  be  taken  to  Plumstead  Marshes,  a 
portion  of  which  forms  the  testing-ground  and  powder- 
magazines  connected  with  the  Arsenal.  Lines  of  railway 
run  down  to  the  marshes,  and  the  gun  is  mounted  on  a 
truck  and  dragged  off  by  a  locomotive  to  the  place 
appointed  for  its  trial.  It  may  be  mentioned  that  lines  of 
railway  run  in  all  directions  through  the  Arsenal,  one  of 
narrow  gauge  being  introduced  into  most  of  the  workshops, 
so  that  the  visitor  has  to  keep  a  lookout  lest  a  tiny  loco- 
motive with  a  train  of  what  may  almost  be  called  toy 
trucks  should  bear  down  upon  him  as  he  is  walking 
along. — But  to  return  to  the  gun.  When  it  has  been 
finally  tested,  cleaned,  polished,  and  stamped,  it  is  coated 
with  a  particular  varnish,  and  is  fit  for  service. 


158  BIG    GUNS,    SMALL-ARMS,    AND    AMMUNITION. 

The  next  most  interesting  place  to  the  Gun  Factory  is 
the  Laboratory,  where  shells  and  bullets  are  manufactured. 
Shells  are  cast  rough,  and  then  finished  off  in  a  lathe.  A 
band  of  copper  now  usually  takes  the  place  of  the  copper 
studs  which  were  formerly  inserted  to  enable  the  shell  to 
fit  into  the  rifled  grooves.  This  band  is  expanded  by  the 
force  of  the  explosion  when  the  gun  is  fired,  and  fills  up 
the  grooves,  so  as  to  give  the  necessary  spin  to  the  shells. 
Shells  are  charged  with  their  interior  bullets  at  the 
Laboratory;  but  the  powder  is  added  down  at  the 
marshes.  A  shell  when  completed  has  become  a  very 
expensive  article,  especially  if  it  is  a  large  one.  Some  of 
those  projectiles  are  so  heavy  that  the  guns  from  which 
they  have  to  be  fired  are  provided  with  small  cranes  for 
lifting  them  up  to  the  breech.  The  shells  are,  like  the 
guns,  beautifully  finished  off  and  varnished,  and  then  sent 
off  to  the  stores. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  place  in  the  Laboratory 
department  is  the  Pattern  Room,  which  is  a  sort  of 
museum  where  shot  and  shells  of  all  sorts  are  to  be  seen, 
from  the  old-fashioned  chain-shot,  made  of  round  balls 
fastened  together,  to  the  most  perfect  specimens  of  modern 
shells.  Here,  also,  are  to  be  seen  those  strange  weapons 
of  modern  warfare  called  torpedoes,  amongst  them  the 
famous  '  fish  torpedo,'  which  with  its  complicated  mech- 
anism may  be  almost  described  as  an  under-water  ship. 
It  is  so  constructed  that  it  finds  its  way  unseen  and 
unheard,  with  its  terrible  charge  of  dynamite,  to  the  side 
of  a  hostile  vessel. 


THE    ENFIELD    SMALL-ARMS    FACTORY. 

It  is  at  Enfield,  on  the  river  Lea,  some  twelve  miles 
down  the  Great  Eastern  Railway,  that  small-arms  are 
manufactured,  almost  entirely,  as  required  by  our  army. 


THE    ENFIELD    SMALL-ARMS    FACTORY.  1 59 

Enfield  Factory  has  not,  like  Woolwich  Arsenal,  an 
ancient  history  of  its  own.  In  the  days  of  Henry  VIII. 
and  of  Elizabeth,  of  the  Duke  of  York  and  his  faithful 
secretary,  Samuel  Pepys,  Woolwich  was  famous  for  the 
production  both  of  ships  and  of  guns^  but  the  small-arms 
factory  on  the  borders  of  Essex  dates  only  from  the  early 
part  of  this  century.  Its  site  seems  to  have  been  chosen 
regardless  of  any  peculiar  advantages  for  manufacturing 
purposes.  It  is  simply  a  collection  of  workshops  built  in 
the  flat  meadows  through  which  run  the  various  branches, 
natural  and  artificial,  of  the  lazy  Lea;  and  the  nearest 
town,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  distant,  is  quiet  and  remote 
little  Waltham,  chiefly  known  for  its  Abbey  Church,  the 
burial-place  of  King  Harold,  which  rises  in  its  midst. 

The  situation  of  the  Enfield  Factory  is,  however,  advan- 
tageous in  this  way  :  the  canals  form  a  safe  means  of  water 
transit  for  the  gunpowder  which  is  manufactured  in  the 
adjacent  mills  at  Waltham,  and  which  is  required  at 
Enfield  for  use  in  the  proving  of  the  barrels  of  firearms ; 
while  the  far-stretching  marshes  provide  an  apparently 
interminable  range  for  carrying  out  the  necessary  experi- 
ments and  trials  with  regard  to  the  accuracy  of  the 
weapons  manufactured. 

Where  one  of  the  canals  has  been  conducted  into 
a  square-shaped  basin,  the  older  and  principal  buildings 
of  the  manufactory  .have  been  located.  They  form  a 
quadrangle  of  some  extent;  and  here,  too,  are  situated 
the  offices  and  the  quarters  of  the  executive  staff,  which  is 
composed  partly  of  civilians  and  partly  of  military  officers. 
Behind  these,  on  the  east  side  of  the  enclosure,  and  on  the 
banks  of  one  of  the  canals,  are  rows  of  workmen's  cottages. 
Near  the  entrance  gates  are  situated  schools  for  the  work- 
men's children  ;  and  at  the  other  end  of  this  street,  as  we 
may  call  it,  is  a  church,  which  is  served  by  the  clergy  of 
the  parish  of  Enfield.     On  the  west  side  extend  north  and 


160  P.IG    GUNS,    SMALL-ARMS,    AND    AMMUNITION. 

south  the  flat  meadows  or  marshes  which  form  so  con- 
venient a  -spot  for  the  testing  and  proving  of  the  rifles. 

All  sorts  of  personal  weapons  required  for  the  arming  of 
a  soldier  in  the  English  army  are  made  here,  not  only 
firearms,  such  as  rifles  and  revolvers,  but  lances,  swords, 
and  bayonets,  the  last  having  now  become  a  sort  of  short 
sword.  There  is  also  one  class  of  weapons  which  occupies 
a  sort  of  intermediate  position  between  those  carried  by 
the  soldier  himself  and  those  drawn  by  horses — that 
of  machine  guns,  as  they  are  called,  which,  though  not 
carried  by  men  on  their  shoulders  or  in  their  hands,  are 
drawn  about  by  them  on  small  carriages.  These  machine 
guns  are  classed  with  personal  arms,  because  they  are 
usually  employed  in  connection  with  infantry  ;  and  also 
because — which  is  a  far  more  important  reason — the 
ammunition  required  for  them  is  similar  to  that  used 
in  rifles.  In  fact,  they  are  in  principle  only  a  collection 
of  infantry  rifles  fastened  together,  or,  as  we  shall  see, 
a  single  rifle  barrel  with  machinery  attached  which  enables 
it  to  discharge  with  great  rapidity. 

There  is  one  more  general  principle  which  we  shall  do 
well  to  bear  in  mind  before  we  enter  the  factory.  It  is 
this,  that  of  course  the  manufacture  of  small-arms  is  in  as 
much  a  condition  of  uncertainty  as  that  of  larger  warlike 
weapons  in  these  days.  What  we  see  now  may  become 
obsolete  in  a  very  short  time,  and  we  shall  be  shown 
specimens  of  firearms  which  formed  the  universal  weapons 
of  the  British  army  only  a  very  few  years  ago,  but  are  now 
as  much  out  of  date  for  practical  purposes  as  cross-bows. 
Remembering  this,  let  us  go  first  when  we  enter  to  one  of 
the  offices,  where  we  shall  see  arranged  in  a  rack  against 
the  wall,  amongst  others,  specimens  of  the  old  Enfield 
muzzle-loader,  of  the  same  weapon  converted  into  a 
breech-loader,  of  the  Martini-Henry  rifle,  and  of  the 
latest  pattern   of  all,  the   magazine   rifle.      While,   stored 


THE   ENFIELD    SMALL-ARMS    FACTORY.  l6l 

away  in  some  out-of-the-way  corner,  it  is  just  possible 
we  might  come  across  a  specimen  of  the  old  smooth- 
bore or  *  Drown  Bess,'  which  formed  the  weapon  of 
certain  English  linesmen  so  late  as  the  beginning  of  the 
Crimean  War. 

The  Enfield  workshops  are  of  course  in  appearance 
much  like  other  workshops.  There  are  the  same  pro- 
cesses of  forging  and  casting,  and  the  same  machinery  for 
hammering  and  turning  and  boring  and  drilling  which  we 
see  elsewhere. 

A  rifle,  as  every  one  knows,  consists  of  three  portions — 
the  wooden  stock,  the  barrel,  and  the  lock.  The  stock  is 
usually  made  of  walnut  wood,  and  is  manufactured  in 
what  we  should  perhaps  describe  as  a  carpenter's  shop. 
Formerly,  the  stock  of  a  rifle  was  formed  out  of  one  long 
piece  of  timber;  but  now  the  complicated  machinery  of 
the  breech  and  lock  cannot  be  contained  in  a  hollow  in 
the  wood,  as  was  formerly  the  case,  but  has  to  be  enclosed 
in  a  steel  case,  to  which  the  wooden  butt  and  barrel 
support  are  screwed.  To  the  rifles  of  the  newest  pattern 
there  hangs,  just  below  the  lock,  the  magazine,  in  which 
are  carried  five  or,  in  some  cases,  ten  cartridges,  which 
spring  up  into  place  in  turn,  ready  to  be  discharged.  In 
short,  the  rifle  has  become,  as  regards  its  rapidity  of  action, 
something  similar  to  a  revolver  pistol  We  shall  find  that 
a  lock  has  in  its  manufacture  to  pass  through  an  almost 
infinite  number  of  processes,  each  part  having  to  be  forged 
or  beaten  out  till  the  whole  can  be  fitted  together. 

Let  us  pass  on  to  the  barrel-making  shop.  Rifle  barrels 
are  made  from  a  solid  round  bar  of  steel,  which  is  at  first 
considerably  shorter  and  stouter  than  the  finished  barrel 
will  be.  This  steel  bar  is  heated  red-hot,  and  is  passed 
between  several  pairs  of  rollers,  which  convert  it  outwardly 
into  the  required  form.  It  has,  however,  afterwards  to  be 
bored  and  then  rifled — that  is,  furnished  with  the  spiral 

K 


1 62  BIG    GUNS,    SMALL-ARMS,    AND    AMMUNITION. 

grooves  within,  which  gives  the  bullet  the  necessary  spin. 
Of  course  the  barrel  is  by  far  the  most  important  portion 
of  a  firearm,  and  the  barrels  of  rifles  are,  at  Enfield,  tested 
and  proved  in  the  most  ingenious  and  searching  manner. 
The  first  proof  takes  place  after  the  barrel  has  been  bored, 
but  before  it  is  rifled.  The  barrels  are  loaded  with  car- 
tridges of  considerably  greater  weight  both  in  powder  and 
bullet  than  those  which  will  be  used  in  them  when  they 
are  ready  for  service,  and  are  enclosed  in  a  sort  of  strong 
box  which  has  one  side  open.  They  are  then  discharged 
through  the  open  side  into  a  heap  of  sand,  and  examined ; 
but  it  is  a  rare  event  to  find  a  barrel  that  has  not  been  able 
to  bear  this  test.  The  second  proof,  which  takes  place 
after  the  rifling,  is  of  a  similar  character. 

But  these  proofs  are  only  to  test  the  strength  of  a  barrel ; 
the  test  of  its  accuracy  is  a  much  more  delicate  operation. 
Of  course  the  machinery  by  which  it  is  bored  and  rifled 
works  with  the  most  admirable  precision  ;  but  yet  it  is 
necessary  to  put  this  machine-work  to  trial.  There  are, 
amongst  others,  two  highly  ingenious  methods  for  doing 
this.  In  the  one  case  it  is  placed  on  a  stand  which  is  so 
constructed  that  on  it  the  barrel  can  be  made  to  revolve 
rapidly.  The  barrel  is  pointed  towards  a  window,  and  in 
front  of  it  is  a  fixed  sight.  The  workman  looks  through  it 
while  it  is  revolving ;  and  if  the  sight  remains  steady  to  his 
eye,  that  is  a  proof  that  the  barrel  may  be  said  to  be 
straight.  But  there  is  yet  another  method.  The  mechan- 
ism of  this  testing  apparatus  is  rather  difficult  to  describe, 
but  is  something  of  this  fashion.  The  barrel  is  made  to 
revolve  as  before ;  but  this  time  there  is  inserted  in  it  a 
spindle,  on  which  is  fixed  a  short  arm  with  a  point  which 
touches  very  lightly  the  interior  of  the  barrel.  If  there  is 
any  inequality,  or  if  the  barrel  is  not  perfectly  straight, 
this  short  arm  is  of  course  shaken,  and  when  this  is  the 
case,  the  motion  is  further  communicated  to  a  long  arm  at 


THE    ENFIELD    SMALL-ARMS    FACTORY. 


163 


the  end  of  which  is  an  indicator,  which  is  looked  at  by  the 
workman  through  a  magnifying  glass. 

Barrel,  stock,  and  lock  being  at  last  completed  and 
tested,  the  rifle  is  put  together ;  but  even  then  it  is  sub- 
jected to  one  more  trial.  This  is  carried  out  on  the  proof- 
ground  in  the  marshes,  and  takes  the  form  of  an  actual 
discharge  of  the  weapon  at  a  target.  The  rifle  is  screwed 
to  a  fixed  and  firm  support,  and  then  a  certain  number  of 
rounds  are  fired  at  ranges  of  five  hundred  and  one  thousand 
yards  respectively.     In  this  test  the  hitting  of  the  centre 


Catling  Gun  on  Field  Carriage. 

of  the  target,  or  'bull's-eye,'  is  not  the  end  in  view,  as  it  is 
in  ordinary  target  practice.  That  sort  of  shooting  depends 
of  course  on  the  steadiness  with  which  the  marksman  holds 
the  rifle.  In  this  case,  however,  the  fixed  rest  may  be 
directed  on  any  portion  of  the  target,  and  the  grip  will 
always  be  the  same.  The  only  object  of  the  test  is  to  see 
whether  the  rifle  throws  the  bullet  at  each  round  on  or 
near  the  same  spot.  A  marker  at  the  butt  examines  the 
position  of  each  shot,  and  the  smaller  the  space  on  which 
they  strike,  the  better  the  weapon. 


164  BIG    GUNS,    SMALL-ARMS,    AND    AMMUNITION. 

We  have  not  yet  spoken  of  the  machine  guns.  These 
weapons  are,  as  part  of  the  regular  equipment  of  armies, 
quite  modern,  though  the  idea  of  binding  together  a 
quantity  of  barrels  and  then  discharging  them  at  once,  or 
with  great  rapidity  one  after  another,  is  not  altogether 
novel.  Sometimes,  instead  of  a  number  of  barrels,  one 
only  is  required,  and  the  cartridges  are  discharged  from 
short  barrels  or  chambers  which  are  brought  in  turn  into 
position  with  the  longer  one.  This  is  the  ordinary 
revolver  system;  but  modern  machine  guns  are  a  great 
improvement  on  this  method,  and  entirely  dispense  with 


Nordenfelt-Palmcrantz  Gun  mounted  on  Ship's  Bulwark. 

the  necessity  of  loading  separate  chambers.  Machine 
guns  have  succeeded  one  another  with  extraordinary 
rapidity,  and  a  gun  seems  only  to  be  adopted  in  order 
to  be  superseded.  Thus  we  have  had  during  the  last  few 
years  a  series  of  these  weapons  bearing  the  names  of 
Gatling,  Gardner,  Nordenfelt,  and  Maxim,  described  on  a 
later  page. 

As  we  walk  about  the  factory  we  see,  besides  the  work- 
men, here  and  there  groups  of  men  in  military  uniform. 
These   are    armourer   sergeants,    who    attend    classes    at 


LORD    ARMSTRONG    AND    THE    ELSWICK    WORKS.       1 65 

which  they  are  taught  the  mysterious  mechanism  of 
the  breech-loaders  and  machine  guns.  In  former  days, 
Tommy  Atkins  could  be  instructed  how  to  keep  his 
weapon  in  order,  lock  and  all ;  but  now  its  complications 
are  beyond  the  power  of  his  understanding  or  of  his 
fingers,  perhaps  of  both,  and  he  has  to  hand  over  his  rifle 
to  a  more  skilled  superior  when  it  is  out  of  order.  Truly, 
military  matters,  from  the  movement  of  the  vast  army 
corps  of  the  present  day  down  to  the  mechanism  of  the 
soldier's  weapons,  have  become  a  highly  technical  matter. 


LORD   ARMSTRONG   AND   THE    ELSWICK  WORKS. 

Sir  W.  G.  Armstrong,  the  chairman  and  founder  of  this 
great  firm  of  warship  builders  and  makers  of  big  guns  at 
Elswick,  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  is  the  son  of  a  Cumberland 
yeoman,  and  born  at  Newcastle  in  1810.  He  early  showed 
a  turn  for  mechanical  contrivances,  and  delicate  youth  as 
he  was,  when  confined  to  the  house  he  was  quite  happy 
making  toys  of  old  spinning-wheels  and  such-like  things. 
He  would  also  spend  hours  in  a  joiner's  shop,  copying 
the  joiner's  work,  and  making  miniature  engines.  He  had 
ample  opportunity  in  his  father's  house  of  making  himself 
acquainted  with  chemistry,  electricity,  and  mechanics.  In 
spite  of  his  turn  for  mechanics,  he  was  articled  to  a  soli- 
citor, who,  at  the  finish  of  his  apprenticeship,  made  him 
his  partner.  In  his  leisure  hours  he  conducted  his  experi- 
ments. Fishing  was  also  a  favourite  pastime  with  him, 
and  in  1836,  while  rambling  through  Dent  Dale,  he  saw  a 
stream  descending  from  a  great  height  and  driving  only 
one  single  mill.  This  led  him  to  think  that  there  might 
be  a  more  economical  use  of  this  water  hydraulically,  with 
the  result  that  he  produced  a  hydraulic  engine,  which  was 
followed  by  the  invention  of  a  hydraulic  crane  for  raising 


LOED       AEMBTEONG, 


LORD    ARMSTRONG    AND    THE    ELSWICK    WORKS.       1 67 

weights    at   harbours    and    in   warehouses.      It   was  soon 
adopted  at  the  Albert  Dock,  Liverpool,  and  elsewhere. 

Next  he  invented  an  apparatus  for  extracting  electricity 
from  steam,  afterwards  introduced  into  the  Polytechnic 
Institution,  London.  Napoleon  III.  heard  of  this  famous 
machine,  and  sent  experts  to  examine  it.  Armstrong 
began  to  receive  recognition ;  he  was  elected  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Royal  Society  in  1846,  and  a  year  later, 
aided  by  some  friends,  he  began  on  a  small  scale  the 
Elswick  Engine-works  in  the  suburbs  of  Newcastle,  which 
have  grown  to  be  the  largest  concern  of  the  kind  in  the 
country.  At  first  the  enterprise  chiefly  consisted  in  the 
manufacture  of  hydraulic  cranes,  engines,  accumulators, 
and  bridges. 

The  addition  of  ordnance  and  shipping,  for  which 
Armstrong  became  chiefly  known,  came  later.  Previous  to 
the  year  1853,  the  weapon  used  by  the  infantry  portion  of 
the  British  army  was  a  clumsy  smooth-bore  musket,  which 
was  only  effective  up  to  three  hundred  yards  at  the 
farthest ;  the  usual  distance  at  which  practice  was  made  by  1 
the  soldier  seldom  exceeding  one  hundred  yards.  In  the 
above-named  year,  an  arm  was  brought  into  use,  termed, 
from  the  locality  of  its  manufacture,  the  Enfield  rifle. 
This  weapon  being  lighter,  and  possessing  a  much  greater 
range  than  the  old  small-arm,  Brown  Bess,  as  it  was  called, 
threatened  very  seriously  to  diminish  the  effect  of  field- 
artillery,  if  not  to  abolish  that  arm  entirely,  as,  indeed, 
many  infantry  officers  were  sanguine  enough  to  predict. 
Nor  were  they  without  good  reason  for  their  boasting,  the 
only  field-artillery  consisting  of  6-pounder  brass  guns  for 
horse-artillery,  9-pounder  guns  for  field-batteries,  and  some- 
times 12-pounder  and  18-pounder  guns  as  batteries  of 
position — that  is  to  say,  batteries  used  when  the  general 
of  a  force  meant  to  make  any  stand  in  a  suitable  position ; 
on  these  occasions,  the  guns  were  taken  to  the  requisite 


1 68  BIG    GUNS,    SMALL-ARMS,    AND    AMMUNITION. 

places,  and  there  left.  Now,  all  these  guns  were  smooth- 
bored  ;  and  as  the  range  of  the  6  and  9  pounders  was  limited 
in  practice  to  about  one  thousand  yards,  it  was  a  fair 
enough  supposition  that  a  company  of  concealed  riflemen 
with  their  Enfield  rifles  could  pick  off  the  gunners  and 
remain  themselves  comparatively  secure,  especially  as  their 
muskets  being  sighted  up  to,  and  effective  at,  eleven 
hundred  yards,  the  guns  also  would  be  a  good  mark  to  aim 
at,  and  the  riflemen  hard  to  see,  even  if  exposed. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  Armstrong  stepped  in 
to  the  rescue  of  the  artillery,  and  provided  the  British 
government  with  the  rifled  cannon  now  in  use,  and  about 
which  so  much  has  been  written. 

Armstrong,  during  the  Crimean  War,  made  an  explosive 
apparatus  for  blowing  up  ships  sunk  at  Sebastopol.  This 
led  him  to  turn  his  attention  to  improvements  in  ordnance. 
He  invented  a  kind  of  breech-loading  cannon,  and  soon 
had  an  order  for  several  field-pieces  after  the  same  pattern. 
He  began  with  guns  throwing  6  lb.  and  18  lb.  shot  and 
shells,  and  afterwards  32  lb.  shells;  and  the  results  at  the 
time  were  deemed  almost  incredible.  He  had  both 
reduced  the  weight  of  the  gun  by  one-half,  reduced  the 
charge  of  powder,  and  his  gun  sent  the  shell  about  three 
times  farther.  His  success  led  to  his  offering  to  govern- 
ment all  his  past  inventions,  and  any  that  he  might  in  the 
future  discover.  A  post  was  created  for  him,  that  of  Chief 
Engineer  of  Rifled  Ordnance  for  seven  years  provisionally. 

The  founder  of  this  great  firm  was  knighted  by  the 
Queen  in  1858,  and  made  C.B.  In  1887  he  was  raised  to 
the  peerage  as  Baron  Armstrong  of  Cragside.  His  mansion 
and  estate  of  Cragside  is  at  Rothbury,  and  it  is  fitted  up 
with  the  electric  light  and  every  convenience  of  wealth  and 
taste.  Armstrong's  peculiar  partnership  between  govern- 
ment and  the  Elswick  Works  was  brought  to  a  close  in 
1863,  since  which  time  the  progress  of  the  firm  has  been 


LORD    ARMSTRONG    AND    THE   ELSWICK    WORKS.       1 69 

continuous.  In  1882  an  amalgamation  took  place  between 
the  Elswick  Works  and  the  firm  of  Charles  Mitchell  &  Co., 
shipbuilders  at  Low  Walker.  Dr  Mitchell,  who  was  a 
native  of  Aberdeen,  and  a  munificent  donor  to  Newcastle 
and  Aberdeen,  was  one  of  the  directors  of  Armstrong, 
Mitchell,  &  Co.  till  his  death  in  1895. 

This  firm  are  now  the  leading  warship  builders  in  the 
world.  Krnpp's  works  at  Essen  (described  in  the  earlier 
part  of  this  book)  are  the  only  parallel  to  them  in  Europe. 
The  engineering  works,  begun,  as  we  have  seen,  in  1847, 
now  occupy  about  nine  acres  j  the  ordnance  works, 
founded  ten  years  later,  occupy  about  forty  acres;  while 
about  five  thousand  men  are  employed.  The  shipbuilding 
yards  are  at  Low  Walker,  nearer  the  sea.  The  hydraulic 
machinery  for  the  Tower  Bridge  and  the  Manchester  Ship 
Canal  were  both  produced  by  this  great  firm. 

Some  years  ago  one  of  his  biographers  wrote :  '  He 
entertains  the  great  institutes  of  England  when  they  visit 
his  native  city  on  royal  lines,  in  regal  splendour.  His 
works  at  Elswick  enjoy  all  modern  improvements.  His 
home  at  Jesmond  is  the  abode  of  art,  literature,  and 
luxury.  When  his  health  complained  under  its  heavy 
load,  he  cultivated  agriculture,  botany,  and  forestry  for 
recreation;  bought  an  estate  at  Rothbury,  where  the 
kindly  invigorating  air  had  healed  him  in  days  gone 
by;  converted  the  barren  hills  into  an  earthly  paradise; 
lighted  his  Cragside  mansion  with  Swan's  lamp  and  his 
own  hydraulic  power;  applied  water-power  to  his  con- 
servatory, that  his  plants  might  secure  the  sun.  But  amid 
all  the  luxuries  which  surround  him,  his  life  is  as  simple  as 
nature;  and  now,  at  the  ripe  age  of  seventy- three,  he 
maintains  the  freshness  and  elasticity  of  youth.  He  was 
wont  to  run  like  a  deer  along  the  moors  of  Allenheads  to 
examine  the  target  fired  at  by  the  original  Armstrong  gun.' 

Lord  Armstrong  has  been  honoured  both  at  home  and 


170  BIG    GUNS,    SMALL-ARMS,    AND    AMMUNITION. 

abroad,  and  has  done  much  for  the  amenity  of  Newcastle ; 
and  Jesmond  Dene,  part  of  his  Jesmond  estate,  was 
thrown  open  to  the  public  by  the  Prince  of  Wales  while 
his  guest  at  Cragside.  The  high-level  bridge,  giving  easy 
access  to  the  park  for  the  town,  cost  ^20,000.  Other 
benefactions  have  been  ^12,500  towards  a  museum;  a 
hall  for  the  literary  society,  a  mechanics'  institute,  schools 
at  Elswick,  &c. 

A  recent  purchase  was  at  Bamborough,  the  ancient 
capital  of  the  Northumbrian  kings,  where,  nearer  our 
own  time,  Grace  Darling  was  born  and  died.  Already 
great  improvements  are  in  progress  there  in  the  shape  of 
workmen's  houses ;  and  the  parish  church  is  being  restored. 
Bamborough  Castle,  which  is  also  included  in  the  purchase, 
is  an  imposing  mass  of  masonry,  standing  on  a  pile  of 
columnar  basalt,  which  is  mentioned  early  in  history; 
there  was  a  castle  here  as  early  as  the  fifth  century.  By 
the  will  of  Lord  Crewe  it  had  been  devoted  as  far  back 
as  1 72 1  to  charitable  purposes. 

In  the  autumn  of  1893,  Lord  Armstrong  told  the  Elswick 
shareholders  that  he  believed  the  time  was  coming  when 
armoured  ships  would  be  as  obsolete  as  mail-clad  men. 
'  Do  what  we  will,'  he  said,  '  I  believe  that  the  means  of 
attack  will  always  overtake  the  means  of  defence,  and  that 
sooner  or  later  armour  will  be  abandoned.'  His  reason 
for  this  statement  was  the  use  of  high  explosives  and 
quick-firing  guns.  In  the  future,  light  vessels  of  great 
speed,  armed  with  quick-firing  guns,  are  likely  to  be  the 
order  of  the  day.  The  life  of  a  battleship,  he  also  said, 
was  far  too  valuable  to  be  staked  on  the  use  of  its  ram ; 
special  ships  should  therefore  be  built  for  ramming.  On 
another  occasion  he  discussed  the  improvements  in  the 
manufacture  of  cordite  which  had  made  it  possible  to 
secure  enormous  power  even  with  moderate-sized  guns. 
With  a  6-inch  gun  of  45  calibre,  and  a  100  lb.  projectile, 


TESTING    GUNS    AT    SHOEBURYNESS.  171 

a  velocity  of  nearly  3000  feet  per  second  has  been  reached, 
giving  an  energy  of  5884  tons,  as  against  the  5254  tons 
of  the  8-inch  gun  of  ten  years  ago.  This  last  gun  could 
only  fire  four  rounds  in  five  minutes ;  now  we  hear  of  ten 
and  eighteen  rounds  in  three  minutes.  As  to  speed, 
some  warships  built  for  the  Argentine  Republic  and  for 
Japan  had  reached  a  speed  of  26 J  miles  an  hour,  and  were 
at  the  time  the  fastest  war-vessels  afloat. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  shareholders  in  1895,  Lord 
Armstrong  said  that  the  war-material  which  they  supplied 
for  the  great  naval  war  in  the  East  thoroughly  stood  the 
test,  and  the  quick-firing  guns  of  the  Japanese  navy  had 
greatly  helped  their  victory.  The  heavily-armed  high- 
speed cruisers  also  deserve  a  share  of  the  credit,  and  these 
had  been  built  by  their  firm. 

In  connection  with  an  official  inquiry  it  was  found  that 
in  1896  there  were  18,000  men  employed  in  the  arsenal 
at  Elswick  alone,  and  that  13  ironclads  and  cruisers,  and 
1400  guns  were  being  built. 


TESTING   GUNS    AT    SHOEBURYNESS. 

It  is  at  Shoeburyness,  in  the  county  of  Essex,  that 
experiments  are  carried  out  with  the  guns,  large  and 
small,  manufactured  at  Woolwich  and  Enfield. 

Shoeburyness  has  become  a  military  centre,  not  because 
of  any  advantages  afforded  by  its  position  on  the  sea,  but 
because  it  consists  of  a  large  tract  of  dreary  marshes 
flanked  to  the  south  and  east  by  the  far-stretching  Maplin 
sands,  which  are  almost  entirely  uncovered  at  low-water. 
These  sands  form  the  attraction  from  a  scientific  point  of 
view. 

The  first  connection  of  Shoeburyness  with  modern 
military  matters   appears  to  have  been  made  so  lately  as 


172  BIG    GUNS,    SMALL-ARMS,    AND    AMMUNITION. 

the  time  of  the  Crimean  War,  when  the  flat  rough  marsh- 
land was  employed  as  a  camping  ground  for  men  and 
horses  with  the  view  of  accustoming  both  to  the  hard  work 
which  lay  before  them  in  the  East.  This  tract  of  country 
has  thus  become  the  property  of  the  War  Department,  and 
that  administrative  body  soon  found  another  use  for  it,  in 
which  the  half-submerged  sands  were  to  bear  an  important 
part.  The  idea  was  conceived  that  targets  might  be 
erected  on  these  sands,  and  that  the  projectiles  which 
were  fired  at  them  might  be  recovered  at  low-water. 
Hence  the  first  connection  of  Shoeburyness  with  the 
artillery  of  the  present  day.  A  safe  range  can  be  found 
across  the  sands  to  almost  any  distance,  and  these  marshes 
have  therefore  become  the  stage  on  which  our  great  guns, 
such  as  Armstrongs  and  Whitworths,  have  made,  so  to 
speak,  their  first  debut. 

To  reach  Shoeburyness  we  take  the  railway  which  runs 
along  the  south  coast  of  Essex  and  the  northern  bank  of 
the  Thames.  As  we  near  the  mouth  of  the  estuary 
we  pass  Southend,  beloved  of  trippers,  with  its  pier 
stretching  out  in  its  length  of  over  a  mile,  and  then  cross 
the  base  of  the  ness  itself,  when  we  reach  the  sea  again. 
On  the  south-eastern  face  of  the  ness  we  are  at  our 
journey's  end,  and  the  railway  also,  so  far  as  the  general 
public  is  concerned,  has  come  to  a  full  stop.  We  walk 
through  the  little  town  or  village,  and  on  the  farther  side 
find  what  we  may  call  the  original  settlement  of  gunnery 
experiments,  now  for  the  most  part  a  group  of  barracks 
and  quarters  such  as  we  might  find  at  any  military  station. 
A  few  differences  we  notice,  however,  for,  as  we  pass 
through  the  barrack-yard,  we  observe  that  one  building  is 
labelled  '  Lecture-room,'  and  other  evidences  there  are 
here  and  there  that  the  artillerymen  who  are  quartered 
here  are  not  altogether  engaged  in  their  ordinary  duties. 
We  shall  probably  not  linger  long  at  the  barracks,  but  we 


TESTING   GUNS    AT    SHOEBURYNESS.  173 

shall  not  fail  to  observe  that  the  officers'  quarters  and 
mess-room  occupy  an  extremely  pleasant  position  on  a 
wooded  bank  above  the  sea,  and  that  at  high-water  the 
waves  come  rippling  up  to  the  very  trees  themselves. 
Farther  on  are  the  houses  appropriated  to  married  officers, 
all  alike  situated  on  the  pleasant  sea-bank. 

We  see  in  front  of  us  huge  wooden  erections  standing 
on  the  edge  of  the  shore.  These  are  conning-towers  from 
which,  when  practice  is  going  on,  a  view  is  obtained  of  the 
direction  of  the  shot.  Beneath  them  are  the  batteries  from 
which  the  guns  are  fired,  and  here  go  on  the  courses  of 
instruction  in  practical  artillery  work,  which  are  necessary 
for  newly  joined  officers. 

But  we  have  by  no  means  seen  the  most  important  part 
of  Shoeburyness  when  we  have  visited  the  barracks  and 
the  batteries.  We  notice  that  a  line  of  rails  winds  its  way 
in  and  out  amongst  guns  and  storehouses,  and  if  we  have 
timed  our  visit  right  we  shall  find  a  little  miniature  train 
just  about  to  start  for  what  is  called  The  New  Range. 
Taking  our  places  in  this  train  we  shall  be  carried  first 
through  the  village  and  past  the  terminus  of  the  public  line, 
and  then  along  a  private  railway  which  winds  along 
amongst  the  corn-fields,  until  we  reach  a  retired  spot  on 
the  sea-shore  hemmed  in  by  lofty  trees.  In  this  private 
place  are  carried  on  all  the  experiments  for  which  Shoe- 
buryness is  famous,  and  here  both  guns  and  explosives  are 
tested  to  their  utmost  capability. 

It  is  not  altogether  an  unpicturesque  spot  at  which 
we  have  arrived.  Grouped  together  in  this  immediate 
neighbourhood  are  certain  nice  old  farmhouses  and 
other  buildings  which  have  been  taken  possession  of  by 
the  military.  The  space  in  front  would  no  doubt  be  an 
admirable  rabbit-warren,  only  the  whole  ground  is  now 
covered  by  guns  of  various  sizes,  targets,  shields,  breast- 
works,   and    models    of  portions    of   ironclad   and    other 


174  BIG    GUNS,    SMALL-ARMS,    AND    AMMUNITION. 

vessels.  Amongst  these  run  lines  of  rails  by  which  guns 
and  materials  can  be  moved  to  any  part  of  the  ground  ; 
and  in  places  there  are  overhead  travelling  cranes  by  which 
heavy  cannon  may  be  hoisted  on  to  or  off  from  their 
carriages  or  into  trucks,  as  need  may  require ;  and  we 
again  see  lofty  conning-towers,  though  target  practice  at  a 
distance  is  not  carried  on  here  to  the  same  extent  as  it  is 
in  that  portion  of  the  establishment  which  we  first  visited. 
The  work  at  The  New  Range  is  connected  rather  with 
experiments  as  to  the  force  of  explosives  and  the  penetrat- 
ing power  of  projectiles  than  with  accuracy  of  aim  and  the 
direction  of  the  shot. 

We  ought  first  to  say  a  few  words  about  modern  explo- 
sives. Old-fashioned  gunpowder,  or  black  powder  as  it  is 
now  usually  called,  is  composed,  as  everybody  knows,  of 
saltpetre,  charcoal,  and  sulphur  mixed  together  in  the 
proportion  usually  of  seventy-five,  fifteen,  and  ten  parts 
respectively. 

Two  chief  varieties  of  the  new  brown  powders  are  now 
made,  and  are  known  as  'slow-burning  cocoa' — from  the 
fact  that  cocoa-nut  fibres  were  first  employed  in  the  experi- 
ments— and  '  Prism  brown  I.'  The  former  contains  about 
four  per  cent,  of  sulphur,  and  burns  rather  more  rapidly 
than  the  latter,  which  contains  only  two  per  cent.  Baked 
straw  is  the  material  now  used  to  supplant  the  charcoal,  as 
it  provides  a  form  of  cellulose  which  may  be  readily 
reduced  to  a  fine  state  of  division.  The  shape  is  still  the 
perforated  hexagonal  prism  introduced  in  America. 

The  burning  of  these  powders  is  steady  and  the  increase 
of  pressure  gradual,  attaining  a  maximum  when  the  bullet 
is  about  half-way  down  the  barrel  of  the  gun.  The 
damage  inflicted  on  the  firing-chamber  is  very  slight ; 
perhaps  as  slight  as  ever  will  be  obtained  with  such  large 
charges  of  powder. 

Uniformity  of  velocity  is  secured  by  ensuring  that  in 


TESTING    GUNS    AT    SHOEBURYNESS.  1 75 

the  making  the  proportions  employed  shall  be  accurate 
and  the  mixing  complete.  The  prisms  of  any  given  class 
of  powder  are  made  exactly  the  same  in  weight  and  com- 
position, and  in  consequence,  a  charge  composed  of  a 
given  number  of  prisms  will  give  in  every  case  almost 
exactly  the  same  propelling  force.  It  is  thus  that  fine 
aiming  adjustments  are  made  possible,  as  two  consecutive 
bullets  of  the  same  weight  may  be  propelled  almost  exactly 
the  same  distance — varying  only  a  few  yards  in  a  range  of 
several  miles — by  equal  weights  of  powder  of  uniform 
composition. 

But  explosives  of  the  present  day  are  composed  of  other 
substances.  Cordite,  of  which  we  now  hear  so  much, 
is  made  of  nitro-glycerine,  gun-cotton,  and  mineral  jelly  in 
the  proportion  of  fifty-seven,  thirty-eight,  and  five  parts. 
It  is  also  steeped  in  a  preparation  of  acetone.  Gun-cotton 
itself  is  dipped  in  a  mixture  of  three  parts  of  sulphuric  to 
one  of  nitric  acid.  The  force  of  cordite  over  gunpowder 
may  be  judged  from  the  following  facts.  A  cartridge  con- 
taining seventy  grains  of  black  powder  fired  in  the  ordinary 
rifle  of  the  army  will  give  what  is  called  a  muzzle  velocity 
of  one  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet  a  second, 
while  thirty  grains  only  of  cordite  will  give  a  velocity  of 
two  thousand  feet.  In  larger  arms,  a  little  less  than  a 
pound  of  cordite  fired  in  a  twelve-pounder  gun  will  give 
more  velocity  than  four  pounds  of  black  powder  fired  in 
the  same  weapon.  It  need  hardly  be  said  that  in  the 
experiments  at  Shoeburyness  it  is  the  new-fashioned  explo- 
sive which  is  chiefly  used. 

Let  us  examine  one  of  the  guns,  a  breech-loader,  and 
see  what  improvements  have  been  made  which  may 
conduce  to  rapidity  of  fire.  We  see  that  in  the  older 
pattern  three  motions  were  necessary  to  open  the  breech. 
First  the  bar  which  is  fixed  across  the  base  of  the  block 
had  to  be  removed,  then  a  half  turn  had  to  be  given  to 


176  BIG   GUNS,    SMALL-ARMS,    AND   AMMUNITION. 

the  block  to  free  it  in  its  bed,  and  then  it  had  to  be  pulled 
forward.  Firstly,  it  had  to  be  thrown  back  on  its  hinge  so 
as  to  open  the  gun  from  end  to  end.  We  are  shown  that 
in  later  patterns  the  cavity  or  bed  into  which  the  block 
fits  is  made  in  the  form  of  a  cone,  so  that  the  breech- 
block itself  can  be  turned  back  without  any  preliminary 
motion  forward.  In  artillery  work,  time  is  everything,  and 
any  one  motion  of  the  gunner's  hands  and  arms  saved  is  a 
point  gained.  Now  let  us  look  at  the  mechanism  by 
which  the  recoil  or  backward  movement  of  the  gun  is 
checked  at  the  moment  of  firing.  The  gun  slides  in  its 
cradle,  and  its  recoil  is  counteracted  by  buffers  which  work 
in  oil,  something  in  the  fashion  of  the  oil  springs  which  we 
see  on  doors.  Iron  spiral  springs  push  the  gun  back  again 
into  place.  Another  interesting  piece  of  mechanism  is  the 
electric  machinery  by  which  the  gun  is  fired.  When  the 
recoil  has  taken  place,  the  wire,  along  which  runs  the 
electric  current,  is  pushed  out  of  place,  so  that  it  is 
impossible  to  fire  the  gun,  even  though  it  be  loaded,  until 
it  has  been  again  fixed  in  its  proper  position  on  the  cradle. 
Truly  a  modern  cannon  is  a  wonderful  machine,  and  yet  it 
is  only  a  development  from  the  sort  of  iron  gas-pipe  which 
was  used  in  the  middle  ages.  Hard  by  is  a  gun  which  has 
come  to  grief.  In  experiments  which  are  carried  on  at 
Shoeburyness,  guns  are  charged  to  their  full,  or,  as  in  this 
case,  more  than  their  full  strength.  There  is  an  ugly  gash 
running  down  the  outer  case  or  jacket,  as  it  is  called,  of 
the  gun,  and  the  latter  has  broken,  and  nearly  jumped  out 
of  its  cradle.  Nursery  phraseology  certainly  comes  in 
strongly  in  the  technical  slang  of  gunnery  when  we  have 
to  do  with  Woolwich  Infants. 

After  looking  at  the  guns  we  naturally  go  on  to  look  at 
the  targets  at  which  they  are  fired.  Targets  at  The  New 
Range  are  not  so  much  marks  as  specimens  of  armour- 
plates  and  other  protections.     Some  of  these  are  built  up 


HIRAM    S.    MAXIM    AND    THE    MAXIM    MACHINE    GUN.        1 77 

with  a  strength  which  to  the  uninitiated  appears  to  be  proof 
against  any  attack.  Here,  for  instance,  we  find  a  steel 
plate  of  eighteen  inches  in  thickness,  and  behind  this  six 
inches  of  iron,  the  whole  backed  up  by  huge  balks  of 
timber.  But  notwithstanding  its  depth,  the  enormous  mass 
has  been  dented  and  cracked,  and  in  places  pierced. 
When  we  look  at  plates  which  are  not  quite  so  thick,  we 
see  that  the  shells  have  formed  what  are  pretty  and  regular 
patterns,  for  small  triangles  of  metal  have  been  splintered 
off  and  turned  back,  so  that  the  aperture  is  decorated  with 
a  circle  of  leaves,  and  resembles  a  rose  with  the  centre 
cut  out.  Where  the  shell  has  entered  the  plate  before  it 
bursts,  the  pattern  remains  very  perfect ;  but  when  it 
.explodes  as  it  touches  the  surface,  some  of  the  encircling 
leaves  are  entirely  cut  off. 

One  target  is  pointed  out  to  us  which  represents  the 
iron  casing  of  the  vulnerable  portions  of  a  torpedo  boat, 
consisting  of  engine-room,  boilers,  and  coal-bunkers. 
These  compartments  have  been  riddled  again  and  again. 
Even  a  service-rifle  bullet  can  penetrate  one  side,  and  a 
shell  of  the  smallest  size  will  go  through  both,  for  torpedo 
boats  are  not  very  heavily  built. 


HIRAM    S.    MAXIM    AND   THE   MAXIM   MACHINE   GUN. 

Statisticians  inform  us  that  the  entire  loss  of  life  in  wars 
'between  so-called  civilised  countries  from  the  year  1793 
down  to  1877  had  reached  the  enormous  amount  of  four 
million  four  hundred  and  seventy  thousand.  To  many 
persons  these  figures  convey  a  sad  and  salutary  lesson. 
But,  leaving  the  sentimental  part  of  the  subject  aside,  all 
will  readily  unite  in  admiring  the  wonderful  mechanism 
which  makes  the  Maxim  Machine  Gun  an  engine  of 
terrible  destructiveness.      Stanley   provided   himself  with 


178  BIG    GUNS,    SMALL-ARMS,    AND    AMMUNITION. 

this  formidable  weapon,  to  be  used  defensively  in  the 
expedition  on  which  he  started  for  the  relief  of  Emin  Bey. 
It  obtained  a  gold  medal  at  the  Inventions  Exhibition,  and 
has  been  approved  of,  if  not  actually  adopted,  by  many 
governments. 

Its  rate  of  firing — 770  shots  a  minute — is  at  least  three 
times  as  rapid  as  that  of  any  other  machine  gun.  It  has 
only  a  single  barrel,  which,  when  the  shot  is  fired,  recoils 
a  distance  of  three-quarters  of  an  inch  on  the  other  parts 
of  the  gun.     This  recoil  sets  moving  the  machinery  which 


Rifle-calibre  Maxim  Gun. 

automatically  keeps  up  a  continuous  fire  at  the  extra- 
ordinary rate  of  1 2  rounds  a  second.  Each  recoil  of  the 
barrel  has  therefore  to  perform  the  necessary  functions  of 
extracting  and  ejecting  the  empty  cartridge,  or  bringing  up 
the  next  full  one  and  placing  it  in  its  proper  position  in 
the  barrel,  of  cocking  the  hammer,  and  pulling  the  trigger. 
As  long  as  the  firing  continues,  these  functions  are  repeated 
round  after  round  in  succession.  The  barrel  is  provided 
with  a  water  jacket,  to  prevent  excessive  heating  ;  and  is 
so  mounted  that  it  can  be  raised  or  lowered  or  set  at  any 
angle,  or  turned  horizontally  to  the  left  or  to  the  right. 
The  bore  is  adapted  to  the  present  size  of  cartridges ;  and 


HIRAM    S.    MAXIM    AND    THE    MAXIM    MACHINE    GUN.       179 

the  maximum  range  is  eighteen  hundred  yards.  The  gun 
can  therefore  be  made  to  sweep  a  circle  upwards  of  a  mile 
in  radius. 

Nor  is  the  gun  excessively  heavy,  its  total  weight  being 
only  one  hundred  and  six  pounds,  made  up  thus  :  Tripod, 
fifty  pounds ;  pivot  (on  which  the  gun  turns  and  by  which 
it  is  attached  to  the  tripod),  sixteen  pounds  ;  gun  and 
firing  mechanism,  forty  pounds.  The  parts  can  be  easily 
detached  and  conveniently  folded  for  carriage,  and  may  be 
put  together  again  so  quickly  that,  if  the  belt  containing 
the  cartridges  is  in  position,  the  first  shot  can  be  delivered 
within  ten  seconds.  It  would  therefore  be  extremely 
serviceable  in  preventing  disaster  through  a  body  of  troops 
being  surprised.  Reconnoitring  parties,  too,  would  deem 
it  prudent  to  pay  greater  deference  to  an  enemy's  lonely 
sentry  on  advanced  outpost  duty  if  the  latter  were  pro- 
vided with  this  new  Machine  Gun,  instead  of  the  ordinary 
rifle. 

Immediately  below  the  barrel  of  the  gun,  a  box  is 
placed,  containing  the  belt  which  carries  the  cartridges. 
The  belts  vary  in  length.  Those  commonly  used  are 
seven  feet  long,  and  capable  of  holding  three  hundred  and 
thirty-three  cartridges  ;  shorter  ones  hold  one  hundred  and 
twenty  cartridges;  but  the  several  pieces  can  be  joined 
together  for  continuous  firing.  Single  shots  can  be  fired 
at  any  time  whether  the  belt  is  in  position  or  not — in  the 
former  case  by  pressing  a  button,  which  prevents  the 
recoil ;  in  the  latter,  by  hand-loading  in  the  ordinary  way. 
To  start  firing,  one  end  of  the  belt  is  inserted  in  the  gun, 
the  trigger  is  pulled  by  the  hand  once,  after  which  the 
movement  becomes  continuous  and  automatic  as  long  as 
the  supply  of  cartridges  lasts.  At  each  recoil  of  the  barrel, 
the  belt  is  pushed  sufficiently  onward  to  bring  the  next 
cartridge  into  position ;  the  mechanism  grasps  this  car- 
tridge, draws  it  from  the  belt,  and  passes  it  on  to  the 


l8o  BIG    GUNS,    SMALL-ARMS,    AND    AMMUNITION. 

barrel.  Should  a  faulty  or  an  empty  cartridge  find  its  way 
in,  and  the  gun  does  not  go  off  in  consequence,  there  is 
of  course  no  recoil  to  keep  up  the  repeating  action,  and 
the  mechanism  ceases  to  work  until  the  obstruction  is 
removed. 

To  devise  and  adjust  the  necessary  parts  of  the  machine 
with  such  precision  that  each  part  performs  its  proper 
function  at  the  exact  moment  pre-arranged  for  it — to  do 
all  this  while  the  gun  fires  at  the  enormous  rate  of  six 
hundred  rounds  a  minute,  must  have  cost  an  immensity  of 
thought,  of  labour,  and  of  time. 

The  '  Colt  Automatic  Gun,'  a  new  machine  gun  manu- 
factured by  the  Colt  Firearms  Company,  of  Hartford, 
Connecticut,  promised  in  1896  to  be  a  rival  to  the  Maxim, 
as  it  fired  400  shots  a  minute. 

Hiram  S.  Maxim  was  born  in  the  state  of  Maine  in  1840, 
and  in  his  fourteenth  year  was  apprenticed  to  a  carriage- 
builder.  From  his  father,  who  had  a  wood-working  factory 
and  mill,  he  learned  the  use  of  tools  and  derived  his 
inventive  turn  of  mind.  After  some  experience  in  metal- 
working  in  his  uncle's  works  at  Fitchburg,  he  was  in 
turn  a  philosophical  instrument  maker,  and  on  the  staff 
of  some  ironworkers  and  shipbuilders.  About  1877  he 
became  a  consulting  electrical  engineer,  a  branch  of  science 
which  he  studied  and  became  master  of  in  a  short  time. 
Some  of  the  earliest  electric  lights  in  the  States  were 
devised  and  erected  by  him.  He  was  in  England  and 
Europe  in  1880  in  order  to  investigate  electrical  methods 
there.  He  was  back  in  London  in  1883,  and  after  that 
visit,  like  Siemens,  he  made  it  his  headquarters.  What 
leisure  he  now  had  (1883-4)  on  hand  he  devoted  to  in- 
venting his  automatic  machine  gun,  which  should  load 
and  fire  itself,  and  the  British  government  was  the  first 
to  recognise  its  merits  and  adopt  it.  The  making  of  it 
has    been    taken   over    by    the    Maxim-Nordenfelt    Gun 


IRONCLADS.  l8l 

Company,    which   has    a   capital   of  about   two    millions 
sterling. 

Like  Edison  he  has  taken  out  about  a  hundred  different 
patents,  some  of  which  are  connected  with  oil  motors  and 
smokeless  gunpowder.  His  flying-machine,  as  described 
in  his  paper  at  the  British  Association  in  1894,  burns  oil 
fuel,  which  developed  three  hundred  and  sixty  horse-power. 
It  was  driven  at  sixty  miles  an  hour  horizontally,  and  the 
machine  contained  an  aeroplane  sloping  six  degrees  to 
the  horizon.  The  weight  to  be  lifted  was  eight  thousand 
pounds.  After  running  nine  hundred  feet,  the  machine 
exerted  an  upward  thrust  of  two  thousand  pounds  greater 
than  its  own  weight.  The  machine,  after  one  thousand 
feet,  broke  loose  ;  the  steam  was  shut  off,  and  it  fell.  The 
experiments  have  been  conducted  at  Bexley,  in  Kent, 
where  Mr  Maxim  had  a  light  track  of  railway  laid  down, 
sixteen  hundred  feet  long,  on  which  the  machine  moved. 
The  back  part  of  the  machine  having  been  liberated  from 
the  check-rail  too  soon  caused  the  accident  at  the  experi- 
ment, and  sent  the  whole  machine  off  the  track.  There 
is  sufficient  evidence  that  it  did  rise  from  the  ground,  and 
Lords  Rayleigh  and  Kelvin  have  become  believers  in  its 
possibilities.  This  machine,  as  described  at  the  time,  with 
its  four  side  sails  and  aeroplanes  set,  is  over  one  hundred 
feet  wide,  and  looks  like  a  huge  white  bird  with  four  wings 
instead  of  two.  It  is  propelled  by  two  large  two-bladed 
screws,  resembling  the  screw-propellers  of  a  ship,  driven 
by  two  powerful  compound  engines. 


IRONCLADS. 


A  modern  ironclad  is  an  enormous  piece  of  complicated 
mechanism.  In  order  to  protect  this  mechanism  from 
hostile  shot,  the  greater  part  of  it  is  placed  under  water 


1 82  BIG    GUNS,    SMALL-ARMS,    AND    AMMUNITION. 

and  covered  by  a  thick  steel  deck ;  the  remainder  above 
water  being  protected  by  vast  armour-plates  varying  from 
eight  to  twenty-four  inches  in  thickness.  From  the  ex- 
terior, an  ironclad  is  by  no  means  a  thing  of  beauty ;  one 
writer  has  described  it  as  'a  cross  between  a  cooking 
apparatus  and  a  railway  station  ; '  but  in  place  of  this 
ingenious  parallel,  imagine  a  low  flat-looking  mass  on  the 
water;  from  the  centre  rises  a  huge  funnel,  on  either  side 
of  which  are  a  turret  and  a  superstructure  running  to  the 
bow  and  stern  ;  two  short  pole  masts,  with  platforms  on 
the  top  for  machine  guns,  complete  an  object  calculated  to 
bring  tears  to  the  eyes  of  the  veteran  sailor  who  remembers 
the  days  of  the  grand  old  line-of-battle  ship,  with  its  tall 
tapering  masts  and  white  sails  glistening  in  the  sun.  A 
stranger  going  on  board  one  of  our  newest  types  of  iron- 
clads would  lose  himself  amid  the  intricacies  and  apparent 
confusion  of  the  numerous  engines,  passages,  and  compart- 
ments ;  it  is  a  long  time,  in  fact,  before  even  the  sailors 
find  their  way  about  these  new  ships ;  and  the  Admiralty 
allow  a  new  ironclad  to  remain  three  months  in  harbour 
on  first  commissioning  before  going  to  sea,  in  order  that 
the  men  may  become  acquainted  with  the  uses  of  the 
several  fittings  on  board,  each  ironclad  that  is  built  now 
being  in  many  ways  an  improvement  on  its  predecessor. 

Those  who  have  not  been  on  board  a  modern  ironclad 
can  form  no  idea  of  the  massiveness  and  solidity  of  the 
various  fittings ;  the  enormous  guns,  the  rows  of  shot  and 
shell,  the  huge  bolts,  bars,  and  beams  seem  to  be  meant 
for  the  use  of  giants,  not  men.  Although  crowded  together 
in  a  comparatively  small  space,  everything  is  in  perfect 
order,  and  ready  at  any  moment  to  be  used  for  offensive 
or  defensive  purposes.  It  is  not,  perhaps,  generally  known 
that  the  captain  of  a  man-of-war  is  ordered  to  keep  his 
ship  properly  prepared  for  battle  as  well  in  time  of  peace 
as  of  war.      Every  evening  before  dark  the  quarters  are 


IRONCLADS.  183 

cleared  and  every  arrangement  made  for  night-battle,  to 
prevent  surprise  by  a  better  prepared  enemy.  When  at 
anchor  in  a  harbour,  especially  at  night,  the  ship  is  always 
prepared  to  repel  any  attempts  of  an  enemy  to  board  or 
attack  with  torpedoes  or  fireships.  In  addition  to  the 
daily  and  weekly  drills  and  exercises,  once  every  three 
months  the  crew  are  exercised  at  night-quarters,  the  time 
of  course  being  kept  secret  by  the  captain,  so  that  no 
preparations  can  be  made  beforehand,  the  exercise  being 
intended  to  represent  a  surprise.  In  the  dead  of  night, 
when  only  the  officers  of  the  watch  and  the  sentries  posted 
in  the  various  parts  of  the  ship  are  awake,  the  notes  of  a 
bugle  vibrate  between  the  decks ;  immediately,  as  if  by 
magic,  everything  becomes  alive ;  men  are  seen  scrambling 
out  of  their  hammocks,  and  lights  flash  in  all  directions ; 
the  huge  shells  are  lifted  by  hydraulic  power  from  the 
magazines,  placed  on  trucks,  and  wheeled  by  means  of 
railways  to  the  turrets ;  men  run  here  and  there  with  rifles, 
boarding-pikes,  axes,  cases  of  powder  and  ammunition ; 
others  are  engaged  laying  fire-hose  along  the  decks,  others 
closing  the  water-tight  doors  ;  while  far  down  below,  the 
engineers,  stokers,  and  firemen  are  busy  getting  up  steam 
for  working  the  electric-light  engines,  turrets,  &c.  At  the 
torpedo  ports,  the  trained  torpedo-men  are  placing  the 
Whiteheads  in  their  tubes ;  others  are  preparing  cases  of 
gun-cotton  for  boom-torpedoes.  In  ten  minutes,  however, 
all  is  again  silent  and  each  man  stands  at  his  station  ready 
for  action.  The  captain,  followed  by  his  principal  officers, 
now  walks  round  the  quarters  and  inspects  all  the  arrange- 
ments for  battle,  after  which  various  exercises  are  gone 
through.  A  bugle  sounds,  and  numbers  of  men  rush  away 
to  certain  parts  of  the  ship  to  repel  imaginary  boarders ; 
another  bugle,  and  a  large  party  immediately  commence  to 
work  the  pumps ;  another  low,  long  blast  is  a  warning  that 
the   ship  is  about  to  ram  an   enemy,  and  every  man  on 


184 


RIG    GUNS,    SMALL-ARMS,    AND    AMMUNITION. 


board  stretches  himself  flat  on  the  decks  until  the  shock 
of  the  (supposed)  collision  takes  place.  After  a  number  of 
exercises  have  been  gone  through,  the  guns  are  secured, 
arms  and  stores  returned  to  their  places,  the  men  tumble 
into  their  hammocks  again,  and  are  soon  fast  asleep. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  glance  at  some  of  the 
principal  offensive  and  defensive  capabilities  of  a  modern 
ironclad.  The  first-class  line-of-battle  ship  of  fifty  years 
ago  carried  as  many  as  a  hundred  and  thirty,  what  would 


One  of  the  '  Wooden  Walls  of  Old  England.'     The  Duke  of  Wellington 
Screw  Line-of- Battle  Ship.     One  hundred  and  thirty-one  Guns. 

be  called  in  the  present  day,  very  light  guns  ;  in  contrast 
to  this,  her  Majesty's  armour-plated  barbette  ram  Benbow 
carries  two  guns  weighing  a  hundred  and  ten  tons  each. 
These  enormous  weapons  are  forty-three  feet  eight  inches 
long,  and  are  capable  of  sending  a  shot  weighing  three 
quarters  of  a  ton  to  a  distance  of  seven  miles.  The  effect 
of  a  shell  from  one  of  these  guns  piercing  the  armour  of  a 
ship  and  bursting  would  be  very  disastrous,  and  there  are 


IRONCLADS.  185 

few,   if  any,   ships   whose  armour,   when    fairly   hit   at   a 
moderate  distance,  could  withstand  such  a  blow. 

Guns,  however,  although  terrible  in  effect,  are  now 
supplemented  by  other  and  more  deadly  means  of  offence. 
Foremost  amongst  these  stands  the  Whitehead  or  Fish 
Torpedo.  This  infernal  machine  can  be  discharged  from 
tubes  in  the  side  of  a  ship  to  a  distance  of  a  thousand 
yards  under  water  at  a  speed  of  twenty-five  miles  per  hour. 
Armed  with  its  charge  of  gun-cotton  it  rushes  forth  on  its 
mission  ;  and,  if  successful  in  striking  the  ship  against 
which  it  is  aimed,  explodes,  and  rends  a  large  hole  in  her 
side,  through  which  the  water  pours  in  huge  quantities. 
In  order  to  protect  a  man-of-war  from  this  danger,  she  can 
be  surrounded  at  short  notice  with  thick  wire-nettings, 
hanging  from  projecting  side-spars,  against  which  the 
torpedo  explodes  with  harmless  effect.  These  nettings 
are,  however,  principally  intended  for  use  when  ships  are 
at  anchor  in  harbour  at  night;  they  could  not  well  be 
employed  in  action  with  an  enemy,  as  they  offer  such 
resistance  to  the  water  as  to  reduce  the  speed  of  the  ship 
by  four  or  five  knots,  and  so  encumber  her  as  to  render 
her  liable  to  be  rammed  by  a  more  active  opponent. 

All  large  ironclads  now  have  two  or  three  torpedo  boats. 
These  craft  are  constructed  of  steel  one-sixteenth  of  an 
inch  thick,  and  steam  at  a  speed  of  sixteen  knots,  some  of 
the  larger  kind  reaching  twenty  or  twenty-one  knots  an 
hour.  Carrying  two  Whiteheads,  they  are  valuable  auxili- 
aries to  the  parent  ship ;  their  rapid  movements,  together 
with  their  dangerous  freight,  distracting  the  attention  of  an 
enemy. 

Machine-guns,  however,  form  a  very  effective  remedy 
for  them ;  a  single  torpedo  boat  attacking  an  ironclad 
would,  directly  she  got  within  range,  be  riddled  with 
Gardner  and  Nordenfelt  shot,  and  sunk  in  about  fifteen 
seconds.     It  is  only  when  three  or  four  approach  in  various 


IRONCLADS.  187 

directions,  or  during  night  attacks,  that  they  become  really 
dangerous.  The  electric  search-lights,  with  which  most 
large  men-of-war  are  now  provided,  will  show  a  torpedo 
boat  at  the  distance  of  a  mile  on  the  darkest  night ;  but 
there  is  of  course  always  a  chance  of  their  getting  close 
enough  to  a  ship  to  discharge  a  torpedo  before  they  are 
discovered. 

The  bow  of  many  of  our  ironclads  is  constructed  for  the 
purpose  of  ramming  (running  down  and  sinking)  an 
antagonist.  To  use  a  ram  requires  great  speed  and 
facilities  for  turning  and  manoeuvring  quickly;  for  the 
latter  purposes,  short  ships  are  better  than  long  ones.  It 
would  be  a  comparatively  easy  thing  for  a  ship  steaming 
fourteen  knots  to  ram  another  that  could  only  steam  ten ; 
a  small  ship  might  also  outmanoeuvre  and  ram  a  long  one ; 
but  it  would  be  extremely  difficult,  in  fact  almost  impos- 
sible, for  a  ship  to  ram  another  vessel  of  equal  speed  and 
length.  To  secure  facilities  in  turning  and  manoeuvring, 
all  our  modern  ships  are  built  as  short  as  possible,  and 
have  two  screws,  each  worked  by  entirely  separate  sets  of 
engines,  so  that  one  can  go  ahead  whilst  the  other  goes 
astern.  If  one  set  of  engines  is  disabled,  the  other  can 
still  work  independently,  and  a  fair  speed  be  maintained. 
We  always  think  that  two  ships  at  close  quarters  trying  to 
ram  one  another,  must  be  like  a  game  at  chess,  requiring 
the  closest  observation  of  your  opponent's  movements  and 
the  nicest  judgment  for  your  own,  a  wrong  move  being 
fatal  to  either. 

It  is  the  opinion  of  many  naval  men  of  authority  that  a 
modern  naval  battle  would  only  occupy  about  half  the 
time  of  a  fight  in  the  old  Trafalgar  days ;  that  half  the 
ships  employed  would  be  sunk,  and  that  most  of  the 
remainder  would  be  so  battered  as  to  be  unfit  for  further 
service  for  months  to  come. 

In  connection  with  the  Navy  Estimates  for   1896-7  it 


1 85  BIG   GUNS,    SMALL-ARMS,    AND    AMMUNITION. 

was  announced  in  the  House  of  Commons  that  the  follow- 
ing vessels  would  be  constructed:  13  first-class  battleships, 
10  first-class  cruisers,  16  second-class  cruisers,  7  third-class 
cruisers,  and  48  torpedo-boat  destroyers. 


SUBMARINE  BOATS. 


In  1864,  during  the  American  civil  war,  a  submarine 
boat  succeeded  in  sinking  the  Federal  frigate  Housatonic. 
This  boat,  however,  was  hardly  an  unqualified  success,  as, 
running  into  the  hole  made  by  its  torpedo,  it  went  down 
with  the  ship ;  and  three  crews  had  previously  been  lost 
while  carrying  out  its  initial  experiments.  Since  then, 
many  methods  of  submersion  have  been  tried  ;  but  it  is 
only  within  recent  years  that  naval  powers  have  awakened 
to  the  fact  that  a  submersible  boat,  though  by  no  means 
so  formidable  for  offensive  purposes  as  its  name  at  first 
leads  one  to  believe,  is  a  factor  which  might  have  to  be 
taken  into  consideration  in  the  next  naval  war. 

Modern  types  of  these  boats  are  the  Holland,  Norden- 
felt,  Tuck,  and  Goubet.  The  Holland  boat  comes  to  us 
from  over  the  Atlantic,  and  is  peculiar  in  its  weapon  of 
offence.  It  is  fifty  feet  long,  eight  feet  in  diameter,  and 
is  driven  by  a  petroleum  engine  carrying  sufficient  fuel 
for  two  days'  run.  The  diving  is  effected  by  means  of 
two  horizontal  rudders,  one  on  each  side  of  the  stern. 
This  only  allows  of  submersion  when  the  boat  is  in 
motion  ;  and  the  boat  cannot  be  horizontal  while  sub- 
merged. It  carries  ten-inch  gelatine  blasting  shells,  fired 
from  a  pneumatic  gun  twenty  feet  long,  whose  radius 
of  action  is  two  hundred  yards  under  water  and  one 
thousand  yards  above.  The  use  of  gelatine  is  also  objec- 
tionable, as  the  confined  space  and  the  vibration  of  the 
boat  prevent  such  explosives  being  carried  without  some 


i  SUBMARINE    BOATS.  1 89 

risk  of  premature  explosion.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  gun- 
cotton  is  adopted  in  torpedo  work,  as  it  will  not  explode  on 
concussion,  and  is  little  affected  by  change  of  temperature. 
The  principal  features  of  the  Nordenfelt  boat  are  its 
method  of  submersion  and  its  propulsion  by  steam.  The 
boat  is  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  long,  twelve 
feet  beam,  and  displaces  two  hundred  and  fifty  tons  when 
entirely  submerged,  one  hundred  and  sixty  tons  when 
running  on  the  surface.  Her  propelling  machinery  consists 
of  two  double  cylinder  compound  engines,  with  a  horse- 
power of  one  thousand,  and  propelling  the  boat  at  fifteen 
knots  on  the  surface.  The  submersion  of  the  boat  is 
effected  by  means  of  two  horizontal  propellers  working  in 
wells  at  each  end.  Two  conning-towers  project  about  two 
feet  above  the  deck,  of  one-inch  steel,  surmounted  by  glass 
domes,  protected  with  steel  bars,  for  purposes  of  observa- 
tion. The  boat  usually  runs  on  the  surface  with  these 
towers  showing,  unless  the  buoyancy,  which  is  never  less 
than  half  a  ton,  is  overcome  by  the  horizontal  propellers, 
when  the  boat  becomes  partially  or  totally  submerged 
according  to  their  speed.  To  ascend  to  the  surface  it  is 
only  necessary  to  stop  the  horizontal  propellers,  which 
also  stop  automatically  on  reaching  a  set  depth.  In  the 
forward  tower  are  the  firing  keys,  machinery  and  valves 
necessary  for  driving  or  steering  the  vessel,  for  controlling 
the  horizontal  propellers,  and  for  discharging  the  White- 
head torpedoes.  Four  of  these  are  carried,  and  they  are 
discharged  with  powder  from  two  tubes  in  the  bows.  In 
the  conning-tower  are  also  placed  the  instruments  indicat- 
ing the  depth,  level,  and  course.  When  the  boat  is  awash, 
the  funnels  have  to  be  unshipped  and  the  boat  closed  up 
before  submersion.  The  length  of  time,  twenty-five 
minutes,  required  for  this  operation  is  an  objection  to 
this  boat,  though  when  submerged  it  does  not  get  un- 
pleasantly  hot.      The   temperature    after   a   three   hours' 


9° 


BIG   GUNS,    SMALL-ARMS,    AND    AMMUNITION. 


submerged  run  was  only  ninety  degrees  Fahrenheit.     The 
crew  consists  of  a  captain  and  eight  men. 

The  Tuck  also  comes  from  America.  It  is  of  iron, 
cigar-shaped,  thirty  feet  long  and  six  feet  in  diameter.  It 
is  submerged  by  means  of  a  horizontal  rudder  in  the  stern 
and  a  horizontal  propeller  acting  vertically  amidships 
beneath  the  boat.  It  is  driven  by  electricity,  supplied 
from  storage  batteries  packed  closely  in  the  bows.  Com- 
pressed air  is  carried  in  reservoirs,  but  a  supply  is  usually 
obtained  when  the  boat  is  not  far  from  the  surface,  by 
means  of  an  iron  pipe  twenty  feet  long,  which  usually  lies 
on  deck,  but  which  can  be  raised  to  an  upright  position  by 


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Section  of  the  Goubet  Submarine  Boat. 

gearing  from  within.  The  top  then  rises  above  the  surface 
of  the  water,  and  by  opening  a  valve  in  the  foot  and 
attaching  a  pump,  fresh  air  is  drawn  into  the  interior. 
The  crew  need  not  exceed  three  men. 

The  Goubet  class  are  of  iron,  sixteen  feet  long,  three 
feet  wide,  and  about  six  feet  deep.  The  motive  power  is 
a  Siemens  motor  driven  by  storage  batteries.  Fifty  of 
these  boats  were  purchased  by  the  Russian  government. 
They  have  no  rudder,  but  a  universal  joint  in  the  screw 
shaft  permits  of  the  screw  being  moved  through  an  arc  of 
ninety  degrees.  The  torpedo  is  carried  outside  the  boat, 
secured    by   a   catch    worked   from  inside.      On  arriving 


SUBMARINE    BOATS.  191 

under  the  enemy,  the  torpedo  is  released,  and  striking  the 
ship's  bottom,  is  held  there  by  spikes.  The  boat  then 
withdraws,  unreeling  a  connecting  wire ;  and  when  at  a 
safe  distance,  fires.  The  absence  of  a  rudder,  however, 
causes  erratic  steering,  and  the  spikes  with  which  the 
torpedo  is  fitted  might  fail  to  stick  in  steel-bottomed  ships. 

Submarine  boats  cannot  be  driven  under  water  at  a 
speed  exceeding  six  knots.  If  driven  beyond,  they  are 
inclined  to  dive,  and  in  deep  water,  before  the  corrective 
forces  against  a  dive  have  had  time  to  act,  might  reach  a 
depth  where  the  pressure  would  drive  in  the  sides  or  com- 
press them  to  a  sufficient  extent  to  seriously  reduce  the  dis- 
placement. In  shallow  water,  the  boat  might  be  driven 
on  to  the  bottom,  and  if  it  be  clay,  held  there,  an  accident 
attended  with  fatal  consequences  in  the  case  of  one  boat. 

It  is  also  difficult  to  direct  the  course  of  a  submarine 
boat;  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  advantage  of  not 
being  seen  counteracts  the  disadvantage  of  not  being  able 
to  see.  According  to  Mr  Nordenfelt  in  a  lecture  on  Sub- 
marine Boats,  '  The  mirror  of  the  surface  throws  a  strong 
light  into  the  boat  j  you  cannot  see  forward  at  all,  and 
you  cannot  see  far  astern ;  it  is  as  black  as  ink  outside ; 
you  can  only  see  a  sort  of  segment.'  This  means  that  you 
cannot  safely  advance  at  a  great  speed  under  water.  It  is 
impossible  to  think  of  a  submarine  boat  as  a  boat  that 
actually  manoeuvres  and  does  its  work  under  water.  The 
boat  should  run  awash,  and  you  can  then  see  where  you 
are.  When  we  consider,  then,  that  a  boat  totally  sub- 
merged cannot  be  driven  over  six  knots,  and  cannot  be 
properly  directed ;  when  we  consider  the  speeds  of  seven- 
teen and  eighteen  knots  attained  by  modern  battleships, 
we  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  boats  totally  submerged 
are  useless  against  modern  battleships  in  motion.  Run- 
ning awash,  they  could  be  tackled  by  torpedo  catchers  and 
torpedo  boats. 


CHAPTER    VII. 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  CYCLE. 

In  praise  of  Cycling — Number  of  Cycles  in  Use — Medical  Opinions — 
Pioneers  in  the  Invention — James  Starley — Cycling  Tours. 

IR  WALTER  SCOTT  once  told  a  friend  that 
if  he  did  not  see  the  heather  once  a  year  he 
would  die.  He  saw  it  much  oftener  than 
once  a  year.  When  the  building  and  planting 
of  Abbotsford  had  become  a  passion  with  him, 
and  when  the  vacation  came  round  in  connection  with  his. 
duties  in  the  Court  of  Session,  he  would  not  stay  ten 
minutes  longer  in  Edinburgh  than  he  could  help.  Some- 
times his  carriage  would  be  waiting  in  Parliament  Square 
to  bear  him  off  as  swiftly  as  possible  to  Abbotsford. 
John  Locke  says  there  is  a  good  vein  of  poetry  buried 
in  the  breast  of  most  business  men ;  there  is  at  least 
in  the  breast  of  most  men,  strong  or  latent,  a  longing, 
a  passion  for  freedom,  for  change.  When  the  buds  swell, 
and  burst ;  when  the  May-blossom  breaks  forth  on  the 
hawthorn,  and  makes  a  spring  snowstorm  in  the  valley;, 
when  the  cuckoo  is  heard,  and  the  lark  rains  down  his- 
drops  of  melody  above  the  springing  clods;  when  the 
lambs  gambol  in  the  green  fields,  and  the  hives  are- 
murmurous  with  their  drowsy  insect  hum — the  awakening 
comes  in  man,  too,  for  freedom,  freshness,  change.     They 


IN    PRAISE    OF    CYCLING.  1 93 

are  happy  who  can  enjoy  such,  and  be  rested  and  re- 
freshed ;  for  millions  are  chained  to  the  oar,  and  know  not 
what  they  miss,  and  millions  more  have  not  had  their  eyes 
or  their  desires  awakened  to  what  they  miss.  Lowell  ex- 
presses the  feeling : 

What  man  would  live  coffined  with  brick  and  stone, 
Imprisoned  from  the  healing  touch  of  air, 
And  cramped  with  selfish  landmarks  everywhere, 
When  all  before  him  stretches,  furrowless  and  lone, 
The  unmapped  prairie  none  can  fence  or  own  ? 
What  man  would  read  and  read  the  self-same  faces, 
And  like  the  marbles  which  the  windmill  grinds, 
Rub  smooth  for  ever  with  the  same  smooth  minds, 
This  year  retracing  last  year's,  every  year's,  dull  traces, 
When  there  are  woods  and  unpenfolded  spaces  ? 

To  change  and  change  is  life,  to  move  and  never  rest : 
Not  what  we  are,  but  what  we  hope,  is  best. 
The  wild,  free  woods  make  no  man  halt  or  blind  ; 
Cities  rob  men  of  eyes  and  hands  and  feet. 

We  want,  then,  to  recover  our  eyes,  and  hands,  and  feet, 
remembering  the  story  of  eyes  and  no  eyes.  For  this  end, 
few  things  are  better  than  a  day  now  and  then  in  the  open 
air,  in  order  to  bring  a  man  to  himself.  The  best  stimulant 
in  the  world  is  mountain  air,  and  the  grandest  restorative 
music  the  rhythmic  beat  of  the  waves  along  the  shore. 

The  cyclist  covers  a  wonderful  stretch  of  country,  going 
and  returning,  and  comes  back  refreshed  too,  though  tired, 
thinking  that  nobody  in  the  universe  can  have  had  a  better 
or  pleasanter  holiday  than  he  has  enjoyed.  He  has 
whizzed  along  leafy  lanes,  with  glimpses  of  running  streams 
to  right  and  left  ;  he  has  heard  the  musical  monotony  of 
the  hill  burns  as  he  rested  on  the  bridge ;  he  has  awakened 
sleepy  villages,  and  enjoyed  his  repasts  at  country  inns. 
And  so  the  cyclist  has  a  ready  power  to  give  himself  the 
requisite  and  healthful  change  of  scene, 

M 


194  EVOLUTION    OF   THE    CYCLE. 


CYCLING. 


The  pastime  of  cycling,  at  first  only  patronised  by 
athletic  youth,  has  now  spread  to  every  class  of  the 
community.  The  vast  improvement  in  machines,  and  the 
health  and  exhilaration  to  be  gained  by  the  exercise,  have 
had  much  to  do  with  its  popularity  alike  with  aristocracy 
and  democracy.  Like  golf,  it  has  come  to  stay,  although 
many  who  take  cycling  up  for  amusement  will  drop  it  again 
as  they  would  do  anything  else.  But  there  will  always 
remain  a  strong  and  increasing  contingent,  fully  aware,  by 
practical  experience,  of  its  health  and  pleasure  giving 
powers,  who  will  place  it  second  to  no  existing  recreation. 
And  so  the  cyclist  gets  gleams  and  glances  of  beauty 
from  many  a  nook  and  corner  of  the  land,  where  railway, 
coach,  or  his  unaided  pedestrian  powers  would  never  carry 
him.  It  has  widened  a  twenty-mile  radius  to  a  forty-mile 
radius,  and  increased  man's  locomotive  powers  threefold. 
Let  no  one  imagine  that  there  is  not  a  considerable  amount 
of  exertion  and  fatigue,  and  sometimes  hardship.  But  it  is 
of  a  wholesome  kind,  when  kept  within  limits,  and  physi- 
cally, morally,  and  socially,  the  benefits  that  cycling 
confers  on  the  men  of  the  present  day  are  almost  un- 
bounded. 

Truly,  we  have  here  a  great  leveller ;  as  one  says  :  c  It 
puts  the  poor  man  on  a  level  with  the  rich,  enabling  him 
to  "sing  the  song  of  the  open  road"  as  freely  as  the 
millionaire,  and  to  widen  his  knowledge  by  visiting  the 
regions  near  to  or  far  from  his  home,  observing  how  other 
men  live.  He  could  not  afford  a  railway  journey  and 
sojourn  in  these  places,  and  he  could  not  walk  through 
them  without  tiring  sufficiently  to  destroy  in  a  measure  the 
pleasure  which  he  sought.  But  he  can  ride  through  twenty, 
thirty,  fifty,  even  seventy  miles  of  country  in  a  day,  without 


CYCLING.  195 

serious  fatigue,  and  with  no  expense  save  his  board  and 
lodging.'  This  is  very  well  put.  Another  enthusiast  has 
said  :  '  If  you  want  to  come  as  near  flying  as  we  are  likely 
to  get  in  this  generation,  learn  to  ride  on  a  pneumatic 
bicycle.'  'Sum  up,'  says  another, '  when  summer  is  done,  all 
the  glorious  days  you  have  had,  the  splendid  bits  of 
scenery  which  have  become  a  possession  for  ever,  your 
adventures  worth  telling,  and  see  how  you  have  been  glad- 
dened and  enriched.' 

An  enthusiastic  journalist  who  had  been  burning  the 
candle  at  both  ends  betook  himself  to  the  wheel,  and 
found  it  of  so  much  service  to  body  and  mind  that  he 
straightway,  in  the  columns  of  his  newspaper,  began  to 
advise  the  whole  world  to  learn  the  bicycle.  He  could 
hardly  tell  the  difference  it  had  made  to  his  feelings  and 
general  health,  and  he  knew  of  no  exercise  which  brought 
so  easily  such  a  universal  return  in  good  health,  good 
spirits,  and  amusement.  Mr  G.  Lacy  Hillier,  of  the 
Badminton  volume  on  Cycling,  confirms  this.  The  cyclist 
seems  to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  Emerson's  saying  as 
thoroughly  as  Thoreau  might  have  done  :  '  Give  me  health 
and  a  day,  and  I  will  make  the  pomp  of  empires  ridiculous.' 
Many  overdo  the  exercise,  then  renounce  it,  or  give  it  a 
bad  name  ;  others,  by  over-rapid  riding  in  towns,  make 
themselves  public  nuisances,  and  vastly  increase  the 
dangers  of  overcrowded  streets.  The  sensible  cyclist 
rides  for  health,  increase  of  knowledge,  and  amusement. 

Though  at  one  time  Mr  Ruskin  was  prepared  to  spend 
all  his  best  bad  language  in  abusing  the  wheel,  the  world 
has  gone  its  own  way,  and  the  careering  multitudes  in 
Battersea  Park  and  elsewhere,  on  country  and  suburban 
roads,  in  crowded  towns,  have  been  the  means  of  creating 
new  manufactures,  which  have  vastly  benefited  our  home 
industries.  Mr  H.  J.  Lawson,  inventor  of  the  rear-driving 
safety,  lately  estimated  the  annual  output  of  cycles  at  over 


196  evolution  of  the  cycle. 

a  million,  and  the  money  spent  at  over  ten  millions.  But 
in  the  absence  of  statistics  this  is  only  guesswork.  The 
periodical  called  Invention  has  stated  that  in  1884  there 
were  8  bicycle  factories,  which  turned  out  6000  machines. 
In  1895  there  were  about  400  factories,  with  an  estimated 
output  of  650,000  bicycles.  The  bicycle  tax  in  France  is. 
said  to  yield  not  less  than  ^"80,000  a  year.  In  the  United 
States,  where  cycling  has  become  a  greater  craze  than  with 
us,  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  cycles  at  least  were 
purchased  in  1894;  in  1895  more  than  four  hundred 
thousand  changed  hands.  When  the  proposal  was  made 
some  time  ago  to  impose  a  tax  on  cycles,  it  was  calculated 
that  there  were  at  least  eight  hundred  thousand  riders  in 
the  United  Kingdom.  Now  the  number  is  estimated  at 
over  a  million.  The  past  few  seasons  have  witnessed  quite 
a  '  boom  '  in  cycling  and  a  great  increase  in  the  number  of 
riders.  Ladies  have  taken  more  rapidly  to  the  pastime  in 
America  and  France  than  in  England.  The  rubber  and 
then  the  pneumatic  or  inflated  tyre  have  wrought  a  marvel- 
lous revolution  ;  the  high  '  ordinary,'  the  tricycle,  and  the 
heavy  '  solid,'  and  even  the  '  cushion,'  have  in  most  cases 
been  relegated  to  the  home  of  old  iron.  The  Pneumatic 
Tyre  Company,  with  a  capital  of  four  millions  sterling, 
when  in  full  swing,  turns  out  twenty-five  thousand  tyres 
per  week.  The  profits  of  this  concern  in  1896  were  at  the 
rate  of  ^432,000  a  year.  Coventry,  Birmingham,  Wolver- 
hampton, London,  and  other  towns,  have  largely  benefited 
by  the  cycle  trade. 

Sir  B.  W.  Richardson  has  often  called  attention  to  the 
benefit  of  cycling  in  the  case  of  dwellers  in  towns.  Dr 
Turner  finds  that  nothing  neutralises  better  the  poison 
introduced  into  the  blood  through  faulty  digestion  than 
gentle  and  continued  exercise  on  the  wheel.  Mr  A.  J. 
Watson,  the  English  amateur  one-mile  and  five-mile 
champion  in   1895,  declared  that  he  never  suffered  from 


CYCLING.  197 

any  ill  effects,  save  perhaps  during  the  hard  days  in 
winter,  when  prevented  from  riding.  Dr  Andrew  Wilson 
once  quoted  a  budget  of  correspondence  from  ladies  who 
had  tried  the  wheel,  all  of  which  was  in  the  same  direction, 
provided  that  overstrain  was  avoided.  Where  the  heart  is 
weak,  cycling  should  be  left  alone.  The  muscles  of  the 
legs  are  developed  and  the  circumference  of  the  chest  in- 
creased in  the  case  of  healthy  riders. 

Here  are  a  few  hints  by  a  medical  man  :  '  Never  ride 
within  half  an  hour  of  a  meal,  either  before  or  after.  Wheel 
the  machine  up  any  hill  the  mounting  of  which  on  the 
wheel  causes  any  real  effort.  See  that  the  clothing  round 
the  stomach,  neck,  and  chest  is  loose.  Have  the  handle- 
bar sufficiently  raised  to  prevent  stooping.  Be  as  sparing 
as  possible  of  taking  fluids  during  a  long  ride.  Unless  the 
wind,  road,  &c,  be  favourable,  never  ride  more  than  ten 
miles  an  hour,  save  for  very  short  distances,  and  never 
smoke  while  riding.' 

The  cycle  as  we  know  it  did  not  burst  upon  the  world 
in  all  its  present  completeness,  but  has  been  a  gradual 
evolution,  the  work  of  many  a  busy  hand  and  brain, 
guided  by  experience.  As  far  back  as  1767  we  find  that 
Richard  Lovell  Edgeworth  had  something  of  the  nature  of 
a  velocipede ;  and  about  the  same  date,  William  Murdoch, 
inventor  of  gas  for  illuminating  purposes,  had  a  wooden 
horse  of  his  own  invention  upon  which  he  rode  to  school 
at  Cumnock. 

The  French  appear  to  be  entitled  to  whatever  of  credit 
attaches  to  the  original  invention  of  the  hobby-horse,  a 
miserable  steed  at  best,  which  wore  out  the  toes  of  a  pair 
of  boots  at  every  journey.  M.  Blanchard,  the  celebrated 
aeronaut,  and  M.  Masurier  conjointly  manufactured  the 
first  of  these  machines  in  1779,  which  was  then  described 
as  'a  wonder  which  drove  all  Paris  mad.'  The  Dandy- 
horse  of  18 1 8,   the    two   wheels  on   which    the    rider   sat 


198  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  CYCLE. 

astride,  tipping  the  ground  with  his  feet  in  order  to  propel 
the  machine,  was  laughed  out  of  existence.  In  1840,  a 
blacksmith  named  Kirkpatrick  Macmillan,  of  Courthill, 
parish  of  Keir,  Dumfriesshire,  made  a  cycle  on  which  he 
rode  to  Glasgow,  and  caused  a  big  sensation  on  the  way. 
This  worthy  man  died  in  1878,  aged  68.  The  notable 
fact  regarding  Macmillan's  cycle  is,  that  he  had  adapted 
cranks  and  levers  to  the  old  dandy  or  hobby-horse.  Gavin 
Dalziel,  of  Lesmahagow,  Lanarkshire,  had  a  bicycle  of  his 
own  invention  in  daily  use  in  1846.  The  French  are 
probably  justified,  moreover,  in  claiming  as  their  own 
the  development  of  the  crude  invention  into  the  present 
velocipede,  for,  in  1862,  a  M.  Riviere,  a  French  subject 
residing  in  England,  deposited  in  the  British  Patent  Office 
a  minute  specification  of  a  bicycle.  His  description  was, 
however,  unaccompanied  by  any  drawing  or  sketch,  and 
he  seems  to  have  taken  no  further  steps  in  the  matter  than 
to  register  a  theory  which  he  never  carried  into  practice. 
Subsequently,  the  bicycle  was  re-invented  by  the  French 
and  by  the  Americans  almost  simultaneously,  and  indeed, 
both  nations  claim  priority  in  introducing  it.  It  came 
into  public  notoriety  at  the  French  International  Ex- 
hibition of  1867,  from  which  time  the  rage  for  them 
gradually  developed  itself,  until  in  1869  Paris  became 
enthusiastic  over  velocipedes.  Extensive  foundries  were 
soon  established  in  Paris  for  the  sole  purpose  of  supplying 
the  ironwork,  while  some  scores  of  large  manufactories 
taxed  their  utmost  resources  to  meet  the  daily  increasing 
demand  for  these  vehicles. 

There  was  a  revival  of  cycling  between  1867-69. 
An  ingenious  Frenchman,  M.  Michaux,  had  some  years 
before  fitted  pedals  and  a  transverse  handle  to  the  front 
wheel  of  what  came  to  be  irreverently  known  as  the  '  bone- 
shaker.' This  embryo  bicycle  had  a  considerable  vogue, 
and  was  introduced  to  Mr  Charles  Spencer's  gymnasium 


CYCLING.  199 

in  London  in  1868.  Spencer  was  in  Paris  in  1868,  in 
company  with  Mr  R.  Turner,  representative  of  the 
Coventry  Machinists'  Company,  and  they  were  each 
admiring  the  graceful  evolutions  of  Henri  Tascard  on 
his  velocipede  over  the  broad  asphalt  paths  of  the 
Luxemburg  Gardens.  '  Charlie,  do  you  think  you  could 
do  that?'  said  Turner.  Spencer  said  he  thought  he  would 
have  a  trial,  and  would  take  home  a  machine  that  very 
night.  He  accordingly  brought  over  a  machine  to  London, 
practised  riding  stealthily  in  some  of  the  most  out-of-the- 
way  London  streets,  and  soon  gained  sufficient  confidence 
to  appear  in  public.  Mr  John  Mayall,  jun.,  photographer, 
Regent  Street,  witnessed  the  arrival  of  one  of  the  first 
bicycles  at  Spencer's  gymnasium,  in  Old  Street,  St  Luke's. 
'  It  produced  but  little  impression  upon  me,'  he  says,  '  and 
certainly  did  not  strike  me  as  being  a  new  means  of 
locomotion.  A  slender  young  man,  whom  I  soon  came 
to  know  as  Mr  Turner  of  Paris,  followed  the  packing-case 
and  superintended  its  opening.  The  gymnasium  was 
cleared,  Mr  Turner  took  off  his  coat,  grasped  the  handles 
of  the  machine,  and,  with  a  short  run,  to  my  intense 
surprise,  vaulted  on  to  it,  and  putting  his  feet  on  the 
treadle  made  the  circuit  of  the  room.  We  were  some  half- 
a-dozen  spectators,  and  I  shall  never  forget  our  astonish- 
ment at  the  sight  of  Mr  Turner  whirling  himself  round  the 
room — sitting  on  a  bar  above  a  pair  of  wheels  in  a  line, 
that  ought,  as  we  inadvertently  supposed,  to  fall  down  as 
soon  as  he  jumped  off  the  ground.' 

It  is  almost  laughable,  now,  to  read  how  Spencer  at  first 
always  rode  on  the  pavement,  and  how  politely  everybody 
cleared  out  of  his  way.  Even  Policeman  X  helped  to 
make  a  passage  for  him.  Some  wiseacre,  on  being  quizzed 
as  to  the  uses  of  this  strange  new  machine,  would  reply, 
'Why,  it  is  a  machine  for  measuring  roads,  of  course;' 
and  a  street  arab  would  shout,   '  Oh,  crikey,  Bill,  'ere 's  a 


2  00  EVOLUTION    OF    THE    CYCLE. 

lark.  A  swell  a  ridin'  on  two  wheels.  Mind  how  you  fall, 
sir,'  &c.  Spencer's  speed  at  first  was  but  five  miles  an 
hour.  Soon  there  were  many  inquiries  for  this  wonderful 
new  aid  to  locomotion.  Spencer  and  Turner  entered 
heartily  into  the  business.  An  order  for  500  machines  was 
given  to  the  Coventry  Machinists'  Company  in  the  end  of 
1868.  This  was  the  firm  with  which  Mr  James  Starley, 
inventor  of  the  '  Coventry  Tricycle,'  was  connected,  and 
this  order  helped  the  start  of  what  has  grown  to  be  an 
enormous  and  beneficial  industry  to  the  town  of  Coventry. 

The  account  of  feats  of  long-distance  riding,  of  forty 
and  fifty  miles  a  day,  got  abroad — the  feat  by  Turner, 
Spencer,  and  Mayall  particularly,  in  riding  to  Brighton 
and  back  in  a  day,  in  February  1869,  further  popularised 
cycling.  Charles  Dickens  and  James  Payn  were  amongst 
those  who  were  bitten  by  the  velocipede  'mania.' 

Yet  the  bone-shaker  craze  might  have  died  a  natural 
death  but  for  the  introduction  of  the  rubber  tyre  and  other 
improvements.  Mr  James  Starley,  of  Coventry,  through 
whose  inventive  genius  the  tricycle  was  evolved  from  the 
bicycle,  was  also  an  improver  and  pioneer.  Starley  says  of 
his  improvements :  '  I  regarded  the  rider  as  the  motive 
force;  and  believing  it  absolutely  necessary  that  he 
should  be  so  placed  that  he  could  exert  the  greatest 
amount  of  power  on  his  pedals,  with  the  least  amount  of 
fatigue  to  himself — believing,  also,  that  the  machine  of  the 
future  must  be  so  made  that  such  essentials  as  the  crank- 
shaft, pedals,  seat,  and  handles  could  easily  be  made 
adjustable  —  I  decided  to  change  my  shape,  make  my 
wheels  of  a  good  rolling  size,  place  my  crank-shaft  as  near 
the  ground  as  safety  would  permit,  connect  my  back  wheel 
with  my  crank  by  means  of  a  chain,  so  that  the  gear  might  be 
adjusted  and  varied  at  pleasure,  and  a  short,  strong  man 
could  ride  with  a  fifty,  a  sixty,  a  seventy,  or  even  a  higher 
gear,  while  a  tall,  weak  man  could  ride  with  a  lower  gear 


CYCLING.  20 1 

than  the  short,  strong  one ;  to  give  my  saddle  a  vertical 
adjustment  so  that  it  could  be  raised  or  lowered  at  will ; 
so  to  place  my  handles  that  they  could  be  set  forward  or 
backward,  raised  or  lowered,  as  might  be  desired ;  and 
finally,  to  make  it  impossible  for  the  pedalling  to  interfere 
with  the  steering.'  In  the  'Rover'  bicycle  he  gave  an 
impetus  to  the  early  history  of  the  machine,  which  has  been 
crowned  in  the  pneumatic  tyre,  the  invention  of  John  Boyd 
Dunlop,  born  at  Dreghorn,  Ayrshire,  in  1840.  Mr  Dunlop 
was  engaged  as  a  veterinary  surgeon  near  Belfast,  where  he 
built  himself  an  air-wheel  from  ordinary  thin  rubber  sheets, 
with  rubber  valve  and  plug.  Mr  C.  K.  Welch  followed 
with  the  detachable  tyre.  The  big,  ungainly  looking 
wheels  were  at  first  laughed  at,  but  when  pneumatic  tyred 
machines  won  race  after  race,  they  became  the  rage.  And 
when  the  company  formed  to  make  the  Dunlop  tyre  sold 
their  interest  in  the  concern,  in  1896  it  was  worth  about 
^£3, 000,000.  The  capital  originally  subscribed  was 
^260,000,  and  ^658,000  had  been  paid  in  dividends. 

A  cycling  tour  is  health-giving  and  enjoyable  when  gone 
about  rationally  and  prudently.  It  is  pleasant  to  plan,  and 
no  less  so  to  carry  out,  as  it  is  always  the  unexpected 
which  happens.  There  are  halts  by  the  wayside,  conversa- 
tions with  rustics,  fine  views ;  and  every  part  of  the  brain 
and  blood  is  oxygenated,  giving  that  kind  of  wholesome 
intoxication  which  Thoreau  said  he  gained  by  living  in  the 
open  air.  One's  own  country  is  explored  as  it  has  never 
been  explored  before.  Some  wheelmen  have  been  credited 
with  seven  and  eight  thousand  miles  in  a  single  season. 
Others,  more  ambitious,  have  made  a  track  round  the 
globe.  Mr  Thomas  Stevens,  starting  from  San  Francisco 
in  April  1884,  occupied  three  years  in  going  round  the 
world.  Mr  T.  Allen  and  Mr  L.  Sachtleben,  two  American 
students,  as  a  practical  finish  to  a  theoretical  education, 
occupied  three  years  in  riding  round  the  world — 15,404 


202  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  CYCLE. 

miles  on  the  wheel.  They  climbed  Mount  Ararat  by  the 
way,  and  interviewed  Li  Hung  Chang,  the  Chinese  viceroy. 
The  wheel  ridden  by  these  '  foreign  devils '  was  described 
by  one  Chinaman  as  '  a  little  mule  that  you  drive  by  the 
ears,  and  kick  in  the  sides  to  make  him  go.' 

Mr  Frank  G.  Lenz,  who  started  from  America  in  June 
1892  to  ride  round  the  world,  was  unfortunately  killed  by 
six  Kurds,  sixty-five  miles  from  Erzeroum,  between  the 
villages  of  Kurtali  and  Dahar,  on  May  10,  1894.  There 
have  been  many  interesting  shorter  rides.  Mr  Walter 
Goddard  of  Leeds,  and  Mr  James  Edmund  of  Brixton, 
started  from  London  and  rode  entirely  round  Europe  on 
wheels ;  Mr  Hugh  Callan  rode  from  Glasgow  to  the  river 
Jordan;  Mr  R.  L.  Jefferson,  in  1894,  rode  from  London 
to  Constantinople,  between  March  10  and  May  19.  In 
1895  the  same  gentleman  rode  from  London  to  Moscow, 
4281  miles,  and  had  nothing  good  to  say  of  Russian  inns 
or  roads.  A  lady  of  sixty  has  done  seventy  miles  in  one 
day ;  while  an  English  lady  tourist  did  twelve  hundred 
miles  in  her  various  ups  and  downs  between  London  and 
Glasgow  during  one  holiday. 

The  lighter  the  machine,  the  more  expensive  it  is. 
Racing-machines  are  built  as  light  as  twenty  pounds  in 
weight.  Some  of  the  swiftest  road-riders  patronise 
machines  of  twenty-six  or  twenty-seven  pounds ;  but  for 
all-round  work,  one  of  thirty-three  pounds,  without  lamp 
or  bell,  is  a  good  average  machine.  As  to  speed,  we  have 
had  460  miles  in  the  twenty-four  hours  on  the  racing- 
track,  and  377  miles  on  the  road.  Huret,  a  French  rider, 
has  done  515  miles  between  one  midnight  and  another; 
the  Swiss  cyclist  Lesna  has  done  28  miles  an  hour;  while 
Mr  Mills  and  Mr  T.  A.  Edge,  in  a  ride  from  Land's  End 
to  John  o'  Groat's  on  a  tandem,  beat  all  previous  records, 
doing  the  journey  in  three  days  four  hours  and  forty-six 
minutes. 


CYCLING.  203 

A  very  sensible  American  rider,  when  on  tour,  starts 
shortly  after  breakfast,  and  with  a  brief  rest  for  lunch,  has 
his  day's  work  of  about  fifty  miles  over  by  four  p.m.  Then 
he  changes  underclothing — a  most  important  and  never-to- 
be-forgotten  matter — has  dinner,  and  an  enjoyable  ramble 
over  the  town  or  village  where  he  stays  over-night.  But 
he  is  a  luxurious  dog,  and  not  many  will  carry  such  an 
abundant  kit  in  the  triangular  bag  below  the  handle  bar. 
Imagine  three  light  outing  shirts,  three  suits,  gauze  under- 
clothing, a  dark  flannel  bicycle  suit,  laced  tanned  gaiters, 
light-weight  rubber  coat,  comb  ;  clothes,  hair,  and  tooth 
brushes ;  soap  and  towel,  writing-pad  and  pencil,  map  and 
matches,  and  tool  bag  !  Many  a  cyclist  carries  a  hand 
camera,  and  brings  home  a  permanent  record  of  his 
journeys. 

It  has  been  well  said  that  many  a  boy  will  start  in  life 
with  a  more  vigorous  constitution  because  of  the  bicycle, 
and  many  a  man  who  is  growing  old  too  fast  by  neglect  of 
active  exercise  will  find  himself  rejuvenated  by  the  same 
agency.  Only  let  the  getting  over  a  certain  distance 
within  a  certain  time  not  be  the  main  object.  And 
winter  riding,  when  the  roads  permit,  need  not  be 
neglected,  for  nothing  is  more  invigorating  than  a  winter 
ride.  The  doctors  tell  us  that  as  long  as  one  can  ride 
with  the  mouth  shut,  the  heart  is  all  right.  A  fillip  should 
be  given  to  the  appetite ;  whenever  this  is  destroyed,  and 
sleeplessness  ensues,  cycling  is  being  overdone. 

Cycling,  of  course,  as  we  have  already  said,  is  not  all 
pleasure  or  romance.  There  is  a  considerable  amount  of 
hard  work,  with  head-winds,  rain,  mud,  hills,  and  misad- 
ventures through  punctures  of  the  tyre.  This  last  may 
happen  at  the  most  inopportune  time ;  but  the  cyclist  is 
generally  a  philosopher,  and  sets  about  his  repairs  with  a 
cool  and  easy  mind. 

A  word  in  closing  about  accidents,  which  are  often  due 


204 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE  CYCLE. 


to  carelessness  and  recklessness.  A  cyclist  has  no  right 
to  ride  at  ten  or  fourteen  miles  an  hour  in  a  crowded 
thoroughfare.  He  takes  his  life — and  other  people's  ! — in 
his  hands  if  he  does  so.  No  less  is  caution  needed  on 
hills,  the  twists  and  turns  in  which  are  unseen  or  un- 
familiar, and  where  the  bottom  of  the  incline  cannot  be 
seen.  As  the  saying  goes,  '  Better  be  a  coward  for  half 
an  hour  than  a  corpse  for  the  rest  of  your  lifetime.'  But 
experience  is  the  best  guide,  and  no  hard-and-fast  rules 
can  be  laid  down  for  exceptional  circumstances. 


The  Dandy- horse. 


CHAPTER     VIII. 
STEAMERS  AND  SAILING-SHIPS. 

Early  Shipping — Mediterranean  Trade — Rise  of  the  P.  and  0.  and 
other  Lines — Transatlantic  Lines — India  and  the  East — Early 
Steamships — First  Steamer  to  cross  the  Atlantic — Rise  of  Atlantic 
Shipping  Lines — The  Great  Eastern  and  the  New  Cnnarders  Cam- 
pania  and  Lzccania  compared — Sailing-ships. 


THE  CARRYING-TRADE  OF  THE  WORLD. 

F  all  the  industries  of  the  world,  that  which  is 
concerned  with  the  interchange  of  the  products 
of  nations  is  suffused  with  the  most  interest  for 
the  largest  number  of  people.  Not  only  is 
the  number  of  those  who  go  down  into  the 
sea  in  ships,  and  who  do  business  on  the  great  waters, 
legion,  but  three-fourths  of  the  population  of  the  globe  are 
more  or  less  dependent  on  their  enterprise.  The  ocean- 
carrying  trade  we  are  accustomed  to  date  from  the  time  of 
the  Phoenicians  ;  and  certainly  the  Phoenicians  were  daring 
mariners,  if  not  exactly  scientific  navigators,  and  their 
ships  were  pretty  well  acquainted  with  the  waters  of  Europe 
and  the  coasts  of  Africa.  But  the  Phoenicians  were  rather 
merchant-adventurers  on  their  own  account  than  ocean- 
carriers,  as,  for  instance,  the  Arabians  were  on  the  other 
side  of  Africa,  acting  as  the  intermediaries  of  the  trade 
between  Egypt  and  East  Africa  and  India.     In  the  early 


206  STEAMERS    AND    SAILING-SHIPS. 

days,  too,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  Chinese  were 
extensive  ocean-carriers,  sending  their  junks  both  to  the 
Arabian  Gulf  and  to  the  ports  of  Hindustan,  long  before 
Alexander  the  Great  invaded  India.  But  there  is  nothing 
more  remarkable  in  the  history  of  maritime  commerce  than 
the  manner  in  which  it  has  changed  hands. 

Even  down  to  the  beginning  of  the  present  century, 
almost  the  whole  of  the  carrying-trade  of  the  Baltic  and 
the  Mediterranean  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Danes,  Nor- 
wegians, and  Germans,  while  our  own  harbours  were 
crowded  with  foreign  ships.  This  was  one  of  the  effects  of 
our  peculiar  Navigation  Laws,  under  which  foreigners  were 
so  protected  that  there  was  hardly  a  trade  open  to  British 
vessels.  It  is,  indeed,  just  ninety  years  since  British 
ship-owners  made  a  formal  and  earnest  appeal  to  the 
government  to  remove  the  existing  shackles  on  the  foreign 
trade  of  the  country,  and  to  promote  the  development  of 
commerce  with  the  American  and  West  Indian  colonies. 
One  argument  of  the  time  was  the  necessity  for  recovering 
and  developing  the  Mediterranean  trade,  as  affording  one 
of  the  best  avenues  for  the  employment  of  shipping  and 
the  promotion  of  international  commerce.  It  was  a  trade 
of  which  England  had  a  very  considerable  share  in  the 
time  of  Henry  VI L,  who  may  very  fairly  be  regarded  as 
the  founder  of  British  merchant  shipping.  He  not  only 
built  ships  for  himself  for  trading  purposes,  but  encouraged 
others  to  do  so,  and  even  lent  them  money  for  the  pur- 
pose. And  it  was  to  the  Mediterranean  that  he  chiefly 
directed  his  attention,  in  eager  competition  with  the 
argosies  of  Venice  and  Genoa.  There  resulted  a  perfect 
fleet  of  what  were  called  '  tall  ships '  engaged  in  carrying 
woollen  fabrics  and  other  British  products  to  Italy,  Sicily, 
Syria,  and  the  Levant,  and  in  bringing  home  cargoes  of 
silk,  cotton,  wool,  carpets,  oil,  spices,  and  wine. 

Steam  has  worked  a  change  in  favour  of  this  country 


THE    CARRYING-TRADE    OF    THE    WORLD.  207 

nowhere  more  remarkable  than  in  the  Mediterranean 
trade.  When  the  trade  began  to  revive  for  sailing-vessels, 
by  a  removal  of  some  of  the  irksome  restrictions,  Lisbon 
was  the  most  important  port  on  the  Iberian  Peninsula  for 
British  shipping.  There  was  a  weekly  mail  service  by 
sailing-packets  between  Falmouth  and  Lisbon,  until  the 
Admiralty  put  on  a  steamer.  Some  time  in  the  '  thirties,' 
two  young  Scotchmen  named  Brodie  Wilcox  and  Arthur 
Anderson  had  a  small  fleet  of  sailing-vessels  engaged  in 
the  Peninsular  trade,  and  in  the  year  1834  they  chartered 
the  steamer  Royal  Tar  from  the  Dublin  and  London 
Steam-packet  Company.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the 
great  Peninsular  and  Oriental  Steam  Navigation  Company, 
destined  to  revolutionise  the  carrying-trade  both  of  the 
Mediterranean  and  the  East.  When  the  Spanish  govern- 
ment negotiated  for  a  line  of  steamers  to  be  established 
between  England  and  Spain,  Wilcox  and  Anderson  took 
up  the  project,  organised  a  small  company,  and  acquired 
some  steamers,  which  at  first  did  not  pay.  They  perse- 
vered, however,  until  shippers  saw  the  superiority  of  the 
new  vessels  to  the  old  sailers,  and  at  last  the  Peninsular 
Company  obtained  the  first  mail-contract  ever  entered 
into  by  the  English  government.  This  was  in  1837;  the 
Cunard  and  Royal  Mail  (West  Indian)  lines  were  not 
established  until  1840.  In  a  couple  of  years  the  Penin- 
sular Company  extended  their  line  through  the  Straits  to 
Malta  and  Alexandria,  and  again  to  Corfu  and  the  Levant. 
In  1840  they  applied  for  and  obtained  a  charter  as  the 
Peninsular  and  Oriental  Steam-navigation  Company,  with 
the  object  of  establishing  a  line  of  steamers  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  from  which  have  developed 
the  great  ramifications  to  India,  China,  Japan,  the  Straits 
Settlements,  and  Australia.  It  was,  indeed,  through  the 
Mediterranean  that  we  obtained  our  first  hold  on  the 
Eastern  carrying-trade. 


208  STEAMERS    AND    SAILING-SHIPS. 

In  considering  the  development  of  maritime  commerce, 
it  is  always  to  be  remembered  that  the  design  of  Columbus 
and  the  early  navigators  in  sailing  westwards  was  not  to 
find  America,  but  to  find  a  new  way  to  India  and  Far 
Cathay.  Mighty  as  America  has  become  in  the  world's 
economy,  its  first  occupation  was  only  an  incident  in  the 
struggle  for  the  trade  of  the  Far  East.  But  with  the 
occupation  of  America  came  two  new  developments  in 
this  carrying-trade — namely,  one  across  the  Atlantic,  and 
one  upon  and  across  the  Pacific.  To  the  eventful  year  in 
which  so  many  great  enterprises  were  founded — namely, 
1840 — we  trace  the  beginning  of  steam-carrying  on  the 
Pacific,  for  in  that  year  William  Wheelwright  took  or  sent 
the  first  steamer  round  Cape  Horn,  as  the  pioneer  of  the 
great  Pacific  Steam-navigation  Company.  Within  about 
a  dozen  years  thereafter,  the  Americans  had  some  fifty 
steamers  constantly  engaged  on  the  Pacific  coast  of  the 
two  Continents,  besides  those  of  the  English  company. 
Out  of  one  of  those  Pacific  lines  grew  Commodore 
Vanderbilt's  Nicaragua  Transit  Company,  a  double  service 
of  two  lines  of  steamers,  one  on  each  side  of  the  Con- 
tinent, with  an  overland  connection  through  Nicaragua. 
Out  of  another  grew  the  New  York  and  San  Francisco 
line,  connecting  overland  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama — 
where  M.  de  Lesseps  did  not  succeed  in  cutting  a  Canal. 
And  out  of  yet  another  of  those  Pacific  enterprises,  all 
stimulated  by  Wheelwright's  success,  grew  in  the  course  of 
years  a  line  between  San  Francisco  and  Hawaii,  and 
another  between  San  Francisco  and  Australia.  Some 
forty  years  ago  the  boats  of  this  last-named  line  used  to 
run  down  to  Panama  to  pick  up  passengers  and  traffic  from 
Europe,  and  it  is  interesting  to  recall  that  at  that  period 
the  design  was  greatly  favoured  of  a  regular  steam  service 
between  England  and  Australia  via  Panama.  A  company 
was  projected  for  the  purpose ;  but  it  came  to  nothing,  for 


THE    CARRYING-TRADE    OF    THE    WORLD.  209 

various  reasons  not  necessary  to  enter  upon  here.  But  as 
long  ago  as  the  early  fifties,  when  the  Panama  Railway 
was  in  course  of  construction,  there  were  eight  separate 
lines  of  steamers  on  the  Atlantic  meeting  at  Aspinwall,  and 
five  on  the  Pacific  meeting  at  Panama.  Later  on,  when 
the  Americans  had  completed  their  iron-roads  from  ocean 
to  ocean  across  their  own  dominions,  they  started  lines  of 
steamers  from  San  Francisco  to  China  and  Japan.  And 
later  still,  when  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  was  com- 
pleted across  Canada,  a  British  line  of  ships  was  started 
across  the  Pacific  to  Far  Cathay,  and  afterwards  to 
Australia  and  New  Zealand.  So  that  the  dream  of  the 
old  navigators  has,  after  all,  been  practically  realised. 

The  repeal  of  the  corn  laws  gave  an  immense  impetus 
to  British  shipping,  by  opening  up  new  lines  of  traffic  in 
grain  with  the  ports  of  the  Baltic,  the  Black  Sea,  and 
Egypt;  and  the  extension  of  steamer  communication 
created  another  new  carrying-business  in  the  transport  of 
coals  abroad  to  innumerable  coaling  stations.  Thus 
demand  goes  on  creating  supply,  and  supply  in  turn 
creating  new  demand. 

From  the  old  fruit  and  grain  sailers  of  the  Mediterranean 
trade  have  developed  such  extensive  concerns  as  the 
Cunard  line  (one  of  whose  beginnings  was  a  service  of 
steamers  between  Liverpool  and  Havre),  which  now  covers 
the  whole  Mediterranean,  and  extends  across  the  Atlantic 
to  New  York  and  Boston ;  the  Anchor  line,  which  began 
with  a  couple  of  boats  running  between  the  Clyde  and  the 
Peninsula,  and  now  covers  all  the  Mediterranean  and 
Adriatic,  and  extends  from  India  to  America ;  the  Bibby 
line,  which  began  with  a  steamer  between  Liverpool  and 
Marseilles,  and  now  covers  every  part  of  the  Mediterranean 
(Leyland  line),  and  spreads  out  to  Burma  and  the  Straits. 
These  are  but  a  few  of  many  examples  of  how  the  great 
carrying-lines  of  the  world,  east  and  west,  have  developed 

N 


2IO  STEAMERS    AND    SAILING-SHIPS. 

from  modest  enterprises  in  mid-Europe.  And  even  now 
the  goods  traffic  between  the  Mediterranean  and  the 
United  Kingdom,  North  Europe  and  America,  is  less  in 
the  hands  of  these  great  lines  than  in  that  of  the  vast  fleets 
of  ocean  tramps,  both  sail  and  steam. 

One  of  the  most  wonderful  developments  in  the  carry- 
ing-trade of  the  world  is  the  concern  known  as  the 
Messageries  Maritimes  of  France  —  now  probably  the 
largest  steamer-owning  copartnery  in  the  world.  Prior  to 
the  Crimean  War,  there  was  an  enterprise  called  the 
Messageries  Imperiales,  which  was  engaged  in  the  land- 
carriage  of  mails  through  France.  In  1 85 1  this  company 
entered  into  a  contract  with  the  French  government  for 
the  conveyance  of  mails  to  Italy,  Egypt,  Greece,  and  the 
Levant ;  and  as  years  went  on,  the  mail  subsidies  became 
so  heavy  that  the  enterprise  was  practically  a  national  one. 
During  the  war,  the  Messageries  Company's  vessels  were 
in  such  demand  as  transports,  &c,  that  the  company  had 
to  rapidly  create  a  new  fleet  for  mail  purposes.  With 
peace  came  the  difficulty  of  employing  the  enormously 
augmented  fleet.  New  lines  of  mail  and  cargo  boats  were 
therefore  successively  established  between  France  and  the 
Danube  and  Black  Sea;  Bordeaux  and  Brazil  and  the 
River  Plate;  Marseilles  and  India  and  China,  &c.  In 
fact,  the  Messageries  Company's  ramifications  now  extend 
from  France  to  Great  Britain,  South  America,  the  whole  of 
the  Mediterranean,  the  Levant,  the  Black  Sea,  the  Red 
Sea,  the  Indian  Ocean  and  the  China  Seas,  and  the  South 
Pacific. 

Few  people,  perhaps,  have  any  conception  of  the 
numbers  of  regular  and  highly  organised  lines  of  steamers 
now  connecting  Europe  and  America.  Besides  the 
Messageries,  the  Austro-Hungarian  Lloyd's  and  the  Italian 
mail  lines  run  between  the  Mediterranean  and  the  River 
Plate.     Argentina  and  Brazil  are  connected  with  different 


THE    CARRYING-TRADE    OF    THE    WORLD.  211 

parts  of  Europe  by  about  a  dozen  lines.  Between  the 
United  States  and  Europe  there  are  now  about  thirty 
distinct  regular  lines  of  steamers  carrying  goods  and 
passengers ;  and  about  a  dozen  more  carrying  goods  only. 
Four  of  these  lines  are  direct  with  Germany,  two  with 
Fiance,  two  with  Holland,  two  with  Belgium,  one  with 
Denmark,  and  two  with  Italy,  one  of  which  is  under  the 
British  flag.  All  the  rest  of  the  passenger  lines  and  most 
of  the  cargo  lines  run  between  the  United  Kingdom  and 
the  United  States.  As  for  the  '  tramps '  steaming  and 
sailing  between  North  America  and  Europe,  they  are  of  all 
nations ;  but  again  the  majority  fly  the  British  flag,  though 
once  upon  a  time  the  American-built  clippers,  of  graceful 
lines  and  '  sky-scraping '  masts,  used  to  monopolise  the 
American  carrying-trade  under  the  stars  and  stripes.  Once 
upon  a  time,  too,  these  beautiful  American  clippers  had 
the  bulk  of  the  China  tea-trade,  and  of  the  Anglo- 
Australian  general  trade.  But  they  were  run  off  the  face 
of  the  waters  by  the  Navigation  Laws  of  America  and  the 
shipping  enterprise  of  Britain.  The  great  and  growing 
trade  between  the  United  States  and  India,  too,  is  now 
nearly  all  carried  in  British  vessels ;  and  a  large  part  of 
the  regular  steam  service  between  New  York  and  the  West 
Indies  is  under  the  British  flag.  That  a  change  will  take 
place  when  America  repeals  the  laws  which  forbid  Ameri- 
cans to  own  vessels  built  abroad  or  manned  by  foreigners 
is  pretty  certain. 

With  regard  to  India,  the  growth  in  the  carrying- trade 
has  been  enormous  since  Vasco  da  Gama,  four  hundred 
years  ago,  found  his  way  round  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
to  Calicut.  For  an  entire  century,  down  to  1600,  the 
Portuguese  monopolised  the  trade  of  the  East,  and  as 
many  as  two  and  three  hundred  of  their  ships  would  often 
be  gathered  together  in  the  port  of  Goa,  taking  in  cargo 
for  different  Eastern  and   European  ports.     To-day,  Goa 


212  STEAMERS    AND    SAILING-SHIPS. 

is  a  deserted  port,  and  the  Portuguese  flag  is  rarely  seen — 
a  ship  or  two  per  annum  now  being  sufficient  for  all  the 
trade  between  Portugal  and  India.  In  the  century  of 
Portuguese  prosperity  the  English  flag  was  hardly  known 
in  Eastern  waters.  It  was  the  Dutch  who  drove  out  the 
Portuguese ;  and  the  reason  why  the  Dutch  were  tempted 
out  to  India  was  because  the  rich  cargoes  brought  home 
by  the  Portuguese  could  not  be  disposed  of  in  Portugal, 
and  had  to  be  taken  to  Amsterdam,  or  Rotterdam,  or 
Antwerp,  where  the  opulent  Dutch  merchants  purchased 
them  for  redistribution  throughout  Europe.  This  is  how 
the  Dutch  came  into  direct  relations  with  the  Indian  trade 
before  the  English,  and  why  Barentz  and  others  tried  to 
find  a  near  way  to  India  for  the  Dutch  vessels  by  way  of 
the  north  of  Europe  and  Asia.  Failing  in  the  north,  the 
Dutch  followed  the  Portuguese  round  the  Cape,  and 
reaching  Sumatra,  founded  the  wide  domain  of  Nether- 
lands-India. This  occupation  was  effected  before  1600; 
and  between  that  year  and  1670  they  expelled  the  Portu- 
guese from  every  part  of  the  Eastern  Archipelago,  from 
Malacca,  from  Ceylon,  from  the  Malabar  Coast,  and  from 
Macassar. 

The  Dutch  in  turn  enjoyed  a  monopoly  of  the  Indian 
trade  for  about  a  hundred  years.  Then  with  the  rise  of 
Clive  came  the  downfall  of  the  Dutch,  and  by  181 1  they 
were  stripped  of  every  possession  they  had  in  the  East. 
Later,  we  gave  them  back  Java  and  Sumatra,  with 
which  Holland  now  does  a  large  trade,  reserved  exclusively 
to  Dutch  vessels.  But  in  India  proper  the  Dutch  have  not 
a  single  possession,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  in  all  the  Indian 
Peninsula  there  are  now  a  hundred  Dutchmen  resident. 

Two  immense  streams  of  trade  are  constantly  setting  to 
and  from  India  and  Europe  through  the  Suez  Canal  and 
round  the  Cape.  Not  only  is  the  bulk  of  that  trade  con- 
ducted by  the  well-known  Peninsular  and  Oriental,  British 


THE    CARRYING-TRADE    OF    THE    WORLD.  2I3 

India,  City,  Clan,  Anchor,  and  other  lines  (though  the 
Messageries  Maritimes,  North  German  Lloyd's,  and  other 
foreign  lines  have  no  mean  share),  but  the  whole  coast- 
line of  India  is  served  by  the  steamers  of  the  British-India 
and  Asiatic  lines ;  and  British  vessels  conduct  the  most  of 
the  carrying-trade  between  India  and  Australia,  China, 
Japan,  the  Straits,  Mauritius,  &c. 

A  new  carrying-trade  was  created  when  the  Australasian 
colonies  were  founded  one  after  the  other — in  the  taking 
out  of  home  manufactures,  implements,  machinery,  &c, 
and  bringing  back  wool  and  tallow ;  and  then  gold,  wheat, 
fruit,  and  frozen  meat.  This  colonial  trade  is  now  divided 
between  sailers  and  steamers,  and  in  the  steamer  traffic 
some  of  the  foreign  lines  are  eagerly  bidding  for  a  share. 
Similarly,  a  new  carrying-trade  has  been  of  quite  recent 
years  developed  by  the  opening  up  of  South  Africa,  and 
this  is  practically  all  in  British  hands. 

An  important  item  of  international  carriage  of  recent 
development  is  the  mineral  oil  of  America  and  Russia. 
The  carriage  of  these  oils  is  a  trade  of  itself.  Another 
special  branch  of  the  world's  carrying-trade  is  connected 
with  the  sea-fisheries.  All  the  fishing-grounds  of  the 
Atlantic  and  North  Sea  may  be  said  to  be  now  con- 
nected with  the  consuming  markets  by  services  of  steamers. 
The  cod-fishers  off  the  Banks  of  Newfoundland  transfer 
their  dried  and  salted  fish  to  vessels  which  speed  them  to 
the  good  Catholics  of  Spain  and  France  and  Italy,  just  as 
the  steam  auxiliaries  bring  to  London  the  harvests  gathered 
by  the  boats  on  the  Dogger  Bank. 

Of  late  years  not  unsuccessful  efforts  have  been  made, 
especially  by  Captain  Wiggins,  to  establish  direct  com- 
munication between  Great  Britain  and  the  arctic  coasts  of 
Russia  once  every  summer.  And  hopes  are  entertained 
that  on  the  completion  of  the  railway  from  Winnipeg  to 
Fort  Churchill,  the  greatly  shorter  sea-route  via  Hudson 


214  STEAMERS    AND    SAILING-SHIPS. 

Strait  and  Hudson  Bay  may  greatly  facilitate  communica- 
tion with  Manitoba  and  the  Canadian  North-west. 

It  is  computed  that  on  the  great  ocean  highways  there 
are  not  fewer  than  ten  thousand  large  and  highly-powered 
steamers  constantly  employed.  If  it  be  wondered  how 
sailing-vessels  can  maintain  a  place  at  all  in  the  race  of 
competition  in  the  world's  carrying-trade,  a  word  of  ex- 
planation may  be  offered.  Do  not  suppose  that  only 
rough  and  low- valued  cargo  is  left  for  the  sailers.  They 
still  have  the  bulk  of  the  cotton  and  wheat  and  other 
valuable  products,  not  only  because  they  can  carry  more 
cheaply,  but  because  transport  by  sailing-vessels  gives  the 
merchant  a  wider  choice  of  market.  Cargoes  of  staple 
products  can  always  be  sold  '  to  arrive '  at  some  given 
port,  and  it  is  cheaper  to  put  them  afloat  than  to  ware- 
house them  ashore  and  wait  for  an  order. 

What,  then,  are  the  proportions  borne  by  the  several  mari- 
time nations  in  this  great  international  carrying-trade  ?  The 
question  is  not  one  which  can  be  answered  with  absolute 
precision,  but  the  tables  of  the  Marine  Department  of  the 
Board  of  Trade  enable  one  to  find  an  approximate  answer. 
In  1893  the  tonnage  of  steam  and  sailing  vessels  of  all 
nationalities  in  the  foreign  trade  entering  and  clearing  at 
ports  in  the  United  Kingdom  was  74,632,847,  of  which 
54,148,664  tons  were  British,  and  20,484,183  tons  were 
foreign.  In  the  foreign  total,  the  largest  proportions  were 
Norwegian,  German,  Dutch,  Swedish,  Danish,  and  French. 
The  Teutonic  races  have  thus  the  most  of  the  ocean- 
carrying  ;  the  United  States  proportion  of  the  above  total 
was  small. 

So  far  the  United  Kingdom.  Now  let  us  see  what  part 
British  shipping  plays  in  the  foreign  trade  of  other 
countries.  We  find  that  the  total  tonnage  of  the  British 
Empire  was  10,365,567.  The  other  principal  mari- 
time    countries     owned     12,000,000     tons.        Therefore, 


THE    FIRST    STEAMER   TO    CROSS    THE    ATLANTIC.       215 

roughly  speaking,  the  British  Empire  owns  about  five- 
elevenths  of  the  entire  shipping  of  the  world.  Even  so 
recently  as  thirty  years  ago,  about  two-thirds  of  the  ocean- 
carrying  trade  was  performed  by  sailing-vessels ;  to-day, 
about  four-fifths  of  it  is  performed  by  steamers. 


THE    FIRST   STEAMER   TO    CROSS    THE   ATLANTIC. 

The  earliest  steamers  the  world  ever  saw,  not  reckoning 
the  experimental  craft  constructed  by  such  men  as  Fulton, 
Bell,  Symington,  and  Watt,  were  those  employed  in  the 
transatlantic  trade.  As  far  back  as  the  year  1819,  the 
Yankee  paddle-steamer  Savannah^  of  three  hundred  tons 
burden,  crossed  from  the  port  of  that  name,  in  Georgia, 
to  Liverpool.  She  occupied  twenty-five  days  upon  the 
passage ;  but,  as  she  was  fully  rigged,  and  under  all  sail 
during  at  least  two-thirds  of  the  voyage,  the  merit  of  her 
performance,  as  an  illustration  of  the  superiority  of  the 
engine  over  canvas,  is  somewhat  doubtful.  Yet  she  was 
beyond  dispute  the  first  steamer  to  accomplish  a  long  sea- 
voyage,  and  to  the  Americans  belong  the  credit  of  her 
exploit.  Indeed,  from  the  time  of  their  last  war  with  us, 
down  to  within  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  our  Yankee 
neighbours  generally  seemed  to  be  a  little  ahead  of  this 
country  in  maritime  matters.  They  taught  us  a  lesson  in 
shipbuilding  by  their  famous  Baltimore  clippers,  and  they 
were  the  first  to  demonstrate  in  a  practical  manner,  and  to 
the  complete  capsizal  of  the  learned  Dr  Lardner's  theories, 
the  possibility  of  employing  steam  for  the  purposes  of 
ocean  navigation. 

Although  in  1838  the  Sirius  and  the  Great  Western 
successfully  made  the  journey  from  England  to  America, 
yet  five  years  before  that  date,  Canadian  enterprise  accom- 


2x6  steamers  And  sailing-ships. 

plished  the  feat  of  bridging  the  Atlantic  Ocean  with  a  little 
vessel  propelled  wholly  by  steam.  This  was  the  Royal 
William,  whose  beautiful  model  was  exhibited  at  the 
British  Naval  Exhibition  in  London,  where  she  attracted 
the  attention  and  curiosity  of  the  first  seamen  in  the 
empire.  The  Royal  William— named  in  honour  of  the 
reigning  sovereign— was  built  in  the  city  of  Quebec  by  a 
Scotchman,  James  Goudie,  who  had  served  his  time  and 
learned  his  art  at  Greenock.  The  keel  was  laid  in  the 
autumn  of  1830;  and  her  builder,  then  in  his  twenty- 
second  year,  writes  :  '  As  I  had  the  drawings  and  the  form 
of  the  ship,  at  the  time  a  novelty  in  construction,  it  de- 
volved upon  me  to  lay  off  and  expand  the  draft  to  its  full 
dimensions  on  the  floor  of  the  loft,  where  I  made  several 
alterations  in  the  lines  as  improvements.  The  steamship 
being  duly  commenced,  the  work  progressed  rapidly ;  and 
in  May  following  was  duly  launched,  and  before  a  large 
concourse  of  people  was  christened  the  Royal  William. 
She  was  then  taken  to  Montreal  to  have  her  engines,  where 
I  continued  to  superintend  the  finishing  of  the  cabins  and 
deck-work.  When  completed,  she  had  her  trial  trip,  which 
proved  quite  satisfactory.  Being  late  in  the  season  before 
being  completed,  she  only  made  a  few  trips  to  Halifax.' 

The  launching  of  this  steamer  was  a  great  event  in 
Quebec.  The  Governor-general,  Lord  Aylmer,  and  his 
wife  were  present,  the  latter  giving  the  vessel  her  name. 
Military  bands  supplied  the  music,  and  the  shipping  in 
the  harbour  was  gay  with  bunting.  The  city  itself  wore  a 
holiday  look.  The  Royal  William,  propelled  by  steam 
alone,  traded  between  Quebec  and  Halifax.  While  at  the 
last-named  place,  she  attracted  the  notice  of  Mr  Samuel 
Cunard,  afterwards  Sir  Samuel,  the  founder  of  the  great 
trans-continental  line  which  bears  his  name.  It  is  said 
that  the  Royal  William  convinced  him  that  steam  was 
the  coming  force  for  ocean  navigation.     He  asked  many 


THE    FIRST    STEAMER   TO   CROSS   THE   ATLANTIC.       2I*J 

questions  about  her,  took  down  the  answers  in  his  note- 
book, and  subsequently  became  a  large  stockholder  in  the 
craft. 

The  cholera  of  1832  paralysed  business  in  Canada,  and 
trade  was  at  a  standstill  for  a  time.  Like  other  enterprises 
at  this  date,  the  Royal  William  experienced  reverses,  and 
she  was  doomed  to  be  sold  at  sheriff's  sale.  Some  Quebec 
gentlemen  bought  her  in,  and  resolved  to  send  her  to 
England  to  be  sold.  In  1833  the  eventful  voyage  to 
Britain  was  made  successfully,  and  without  mishap  of  any 
kind.  The  Royal  William's  proportions  were  as  follows  : 
Builder's  measurement,  1370  tons  ;  steamboat  measurement, 
as  per  Act  of  Parliament,  830  tons  ;  length  of  keel,  146 
feet;  length  of  deck  from  head  to  tafTrail,  176  feet;  breadth 
of  beam  inside  the  paddle-boxes,  29  feet  4  inches ;  outside, 
43  feet  10  inches;  depth  of  hold,  17  feet  9  inches.  On 
the  4th  of  August  1833,  commanded  by  Captain  John 
M'Dougall,  she  left  Quebec,  via  Pictou,  Nova  Scotia,  for 
London,  under  steam,  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning.  She 
made  the  passage  in  twenty-five  days.  Her  supply  of  coal 
was  254  chaldrons,  or  over  330  tons.  Her  captain  wrote  : 
1  She  is  justly  entitled  to  be  considered  the  first  steamer 
that  crossed  the  Atlantic  by  steam,  having  steamed  the 
whole  way  across.' 

About  the  end  of  September  1833,  the  Royal  William 
was  disposed  of  for  ten  thousand  pounds  sterling,  and 
chartered  to  the  Portuguese  government  to  take  out  troops 
for  Dora  Pedro's  service.  Portugal  was  asked  to  purchase 
her  for  the  navy ;  but  the  admiral  of  the  fleet,  not  thinking 
well  of  the  scheme,  declined  to  entertain  the  proposition. 
Captain  M'Dougall  was  master  of  the  steamer  all  this  time. 
He  returned  with  her  to  London  with  invalids  and  dis- 
banded Portuguese  soldiers,  and  laid  her  up  off  Deptford, 
Victualling  Office.  In  July,  orders  came  to  fit  out  the- 
Royal  William  to  run  between  Oporto  and  Lisbon.      One,- 


215  STEAMERS    AND    SAILING-SHIPS. 

trip  was  made  between  these  ports,  and  also  a  trip  to  Cadiz 
for  specie  for  the  Portuguese  government. 

On  his  return  to  Lisbon,  Captain  M'Dougall  was  ordered 
to  sell  the  steamer  to  the  Spanish  government,  through 
Don  Evanston  Castor  da  Perez,  then  the  Spanish  ambas- 
sador to  the  court  of  Lisbon.  The  transaction  was  com- 
pleted on  the  ioth  of  September  1834,  when  the  Royal 
■William  became  the  Ysabel  Segu/ida,  and  the  first  war- 
steamer  the  Spaniards  ever  possessed.  She  was  ordered 
to  the  north  coast  of  Spain  against  Don  Carlos.  Captain 
M'Dougall  accepted  the  rank  and  pay  of  a  Commander, 
and,  by  special  proviso,  was  guaranteed  six  hundred 
pounds  per  annum,  and  the  contract  to  supply  the 
squadron  with  provisions  from  Lisbon.  The  Ysabel 
Segimda  proceeded  to  the  north  coast ;  and  about  the 
latter  part  of  1834  she  returned  to  Gravesend,  to  be 
delivered  up  to  the  British  government,  to  be  converted 
into  a  war-steamer  at  the  Imperial  Dockyard.  The  crew 
and  officers  were  transferred  to  the  Royal  Tar,  chartered 
and  armed  as  a  war-steamer,  with  six  long  thirty-two 
pounders,  and  named  the  Reyna  Governadoza,  the  name 
intended  for  the  City  of  Edinburgh  steamer,  which  was 
chartered  to  form  part  of  the  squadron.  When  completed, 
she  relieved  the  Royal  Tar  and  took  her  name. 

In  his  interesting  letter,  from  which  these  facts  are 
drawn,  to  Robert  Christie,  the  Canadian  historian,  Captain 
M'Dougall  thus  completes  the  story  of  the  pioneer  Atlantic 
steamer :  '  The  Ysabel  Segunda,  when  completed  at  Sheer- 
ness  Dockyard,  took  out  General  Alava,  the  Spanish 
ambassador,  and  General  Evans  and  most  of  his  staff 
officers,  to  Saint  Andero,  and  afterwards  to  St  Sebastian, 
having  hoisted  the  Commodore's  broad  pennant  again  at 
Saint  Andero ;  and  was  afterwards  employed  in  cruising 
between  that  port  and  Fuente  Arabia,  and  acting  in 
concert  with   the    Legion   against    Don   Carlos  until    the 


THE    FIRST    STEAMER    TO    CROSS    THE    ATLANTIC.       210 

time  of  their  service  expired  in  1837.  She  was  then  sent 
to  Portsmouth  with  a  part  of  those  discharged  from  the 
service,  and  from  thence  she  was  taken  to  London,  and 
detained  in  the  City  Canal  by  Commodore  Henry  until 
the  claims  of  the  officers  and  crew  on  the  Spanish  govern- 
ment were  settled,  which  was  ultimately  accomplished  by 
bills,  and  the  officers  and  crew  discharged  from  the  Spanish 
service  about  the  latter  end  of  1837,  and  Ysabel  Segunda 
delivered  up  to  the  Spanish  ambassador,  and  after  having 
her  engines  repaired,  returned  to  Spain,  and  was  soon 
afterwards  sent  to  Bordeaux,  in  France,  to  have  the  hull 
repaired.  But  on  being  surveyed,  it  was  found  that  the 
timbers  were  so  much  decayed  that  it  was  decided  to 
build  a  new  vessel  to  receive  the  engines,  which  was  built 
there,  and  called  by  the  same  name,  and  now  [1853]  forms 
one  of  the  royal  steam-navy  of  Spain,  while  her  predeces- 
sor was  converted  into  a  hulk  at  Bordeaux.' 

This,  in  brief,  is  the  history  of  the  steamer  which  played 
so  important  a  role  in  the  maritime  annals  of  Canada, 
England,  and  Spain.  Her  model  is  safely  stored  in  the 
rooms  of  the  Literary  and  Historical  Society  of  Quebec, 
where  it  is  an  object  of  profound  veneration.  At  the 
request  of  the  government,  a  copy  of  the  model  was 
made,  and  formed  part  of  the  Canadian  exhibit  to  the 
World's  Fair  at  Chicago  in  1893. 

It  was  not,  however,  until  five  years  later  that  the 
successful  passages  of  two  memorable  vessels  from  England 
to  America  fairly  established  the  era  of  what  has  been 
called  the  Atlantic  steam-ferry.  These  ships  were  respec- 
tively the  Sir  ins  and  the  Great  Western.  The  former  was 
a  craft  of  about  700  tons  burden,  with  engines  of 
three  hundred  and  twenty  horse-power  :  she  sailed  from 
Cork  on  the  4th  of  April  1838,  under  the  command  of 
Lieutenant  Roberts,  R.N.,  bound  for  New  York.  The 
latter  vessel  was  a  steamer  of  1340  tons,  builders'  measure- 


220  Steamers  and  sailing-ships. 

ment,  with  engines  of  four  hundred  and  forty  horse-power : 
she  was  commanded  by  Captain  Hoskins,  R.N.,  and  sailed 
from  Bristol  on  the  8th  of  April  in  the  same  year,  bound 
likewise  for  New  York.  The  Sirius,  it  was  calculated,  had 
a  start  of  her  competitor  by  about  seven  hundred  nautical 
miles ;  but  it  was  known  that  her  utmost  capabilities  of 
speed  scarcely  exceeded  eight  knots  an  hour;  whilst  the 
Great  Western,  on  her  trial  trip  from  Blackwall  to  Graves- 
end,  ran  eleven  knots  an  hour  without  difficulty. 

The  issue  of  the  race  was  therefore  awaited  with  the 
utmost  curiosity  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  Contem- 
porary records  usually  afford  good  evidence  of  the  signi- 
ficance of  past  events,  and  the  interest  in  this  novel  ocean 
match  was  prodigious,  to  judge  from  the  accounts  with 
which  the  Liverpool  and  New  York  papers  of  the  day 
teemed.  The  following  is  in  brief  the  narrative  of  the 
voyage  of  these  two  famous  ships  across  the  Western 
Ocean.  The  Sir  ins,  after  leaving  Cork  on  the  4th  of 
April,  encountered  very  heavy  weather,  which  greatly 
retarded  her  progress.  She  arrived,  however,  off  Sandy 
Hook  on  the  evening  of  Sunday,  the  2 2d  of  April;  but 
going  aground,  she  did  not  get  into  the  North  River 
until  the  following  morning.  When  it  was  known  that 
she  had  arrived,  New  York  grew  instantly  agitated  with 
excitement. 

'  The  news,'  ran  the  account  published  by  the  Journal  of 
Commerce  in  the  United  States,  'spread  like  wildfire 
through  the  city,  and  the  river  became  literally  dotted 
all  over  with  boats  conveying  the  curious  to  and  from  the 
stranger.  There  seemed  to  be  a  universal  voice  in  con- 
gratulation, and  every  visage  was  illuminated  with  delight. 
A  tacit  conviction  seemed  to  pervade  every  bosom  that  a 
most  doubtful  problem  had  been  satisfactorily  solved; 
visions  of  future  advantage  to  science,  to  commerce,  to 
moral  philosophy,  began  to  float  before  the  " mind's  eye;" 


THE    FIRST    STEAMER    TO    CROSS    THE    ATLANTIC.       22  1 

curiosity  to  travel  through  the  old  country,  and  to  inspect 
ancient  institutions,  began  to  stimulate  the  inquiring. 

'Whilst  all  this  was  going  on,  suddenly  there  was  seen 
over  Governor's  Island  a  dense  black  cloud  of  smoke 
spreading  itself  upward,  and  betokening  another  arrival. 
On  it  came  with  great  rapidity,  and  about  three  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon  its  cause  was  made  fully  manifest  to  the 
accumulated  multitudes  at  the  Battery.  It  was  the  steam- 
ship Great  Western,  of  about  1600  tons  burden  (sic)  [the 
difference  probably  lies  between  the  net  and  the  gross 
tonnage],  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  Hoskins,  R.N. 
She  had  left  Bristol  on  the  8th  inst.,  and  on  the  23d  was 
making  her  triumphant  entry  into  the  port  of  New  York. 
This  immense  moving  mass  was  propelled  at  a  rapid  rate 
through  the  waters  of  the  Bay;  she  passed  swiftly  and 
gracefully  round  the  Sir  ins,  exchanging  salutes  with  her, 
and  then  proceeded  to  her  destined  anchorage  in  the  East 
River.  If  the  public  mind  was  stimulated  by  the  arrival  of 
the  Sirius,  it  became  almost  intoxicated  with  delight  upon 
view  of  the  superb  Great  Western.  The  latter  vessel  was 
only  fourteen  clear  days  out;  and  neither  vessel  had 
sustained  a  damage  worth  mentioning,  notwithstanding 
that  both  had  to  encounter  very  heavy  weather.  The 
Sirius  was  spoken  with  on  the  14th  of  April  in  latitude  450 
north,  longitude  3 70  west.  The  Great  Western  was  spoken 
on  the  15th  of  April  in  latitude  460  26'  north,  longitude 
370  west  At  these  respective  dates  the  Great  Western 
had  run  1305  miles  in  seven  days  from  King  Road ;  and 
the  Sirius  1305  miles  in  ten  days  from  Cork.  The  Great 
Western  averaged  186 \  miles  per  day,  and  the  Sirius  130^ 
miles ;  Great  Western  gained  on  the  Sirius  fifty-six  miles 
per  day.  The  Great  Western  averaged  seven  and  three- 
quarter  miles  per  hour ;  the  Sirius  barely  averaged  five  and 
a  half  miles  per  hour.' 

Such  was  the  first  voyage  made  across  the  Atlantic  by 


22  2  STEAMERS   AND   SAILING-SHIPS. 

these  two  early  steamships,  and  there  is  something  of  the 
true  philosophy  of  history  to  be  found  in  the  interest 
which  their  advent  created.  It  is  worthy  of  passing  note 
to  learn  what  ultimately  became  of  these  celebrated  vessels. 
The  Sirii/s,  not  proving  staunch  enough  for  the  Atlantic 
surges,  was  sent  to  open  steam-communication  between 
London  and  St  Petersburg,  in  which  trade  she  was  for 
several  years  successfully  employed.  The  Great  Western 
plied  regularly  from  Bristol  to  New  York  until  the  year 
1847,  when  she  was  sold  to  the  Royal  Mail  Company,  and 
ran  as  one  of  their  crack  ships  until  1857,  in  which  year 
she  was  broken  up  at  Vauxhall  as  being  obsolete  and 
unable  profitably  to  compete  with  the  new  class  of  steamers 
being  built. 

The  success  of  these  two  vessels  may  be  said  to  have 
completely  established  steam  as  a  condition  of  the  trans- 
atlantic navigation  of  the  future.  '  In  October  1838,'  says 
Lindsay,  in  his  History  of  Merchant  Shipping,  'Sir  John 
Tobin,  a  well-known  merchant  of  Liverpool,  seeing  the 
importance  of  the  intercourse  now  rapidly  increasing 
between  the  Old  and  New  Worlds,  despatched  on  his 
own  account  a  steamer  to  New  York.  She  was  built  at 
Liverpool,  after  which  place  she  was  named,  and  made  the 
passage  outwards  in  sixteen  and  a  half  days.  It  was  now 
clearly  proved  that  the  service  could  be  performed,  not 
merely  with  profit  to  those  who  engaged  in  it,  but  with  a 
regularity  and  speed  which  the  finest  description  of  sailing- 
vessels  could  not  be  expected  to  accomplish.  If  any 
doubts  still  existed  on  these  important  points,  the  second 
voyage  of  the  Great  Western  set  them  at  rest,  she  having 
on  this  occasion  accomplished  the  outward  passage  in 
fourteen  days  sixteen  hours,  bringing  with  her  the  advices 
of  the  fastest  American  sailing-ships  which  had  sailed  from 
New  York  long  before  her,  and  thus  proving  the  necessity 
of  having  the  mails  in  future  conveyed  by  steamers.' 


THE    FIRST    STEAMER   TO    CROSS    THE    ATLANTIC.       223 

In  fact,  as  early  as  October  1838,  the  British  govern- 
ment, being  satisfied  of  the  superiority  of  steam-packets 
over  sailing-ships,  issued  advertisements  inviting  tenders 
for  the  conveyance  of  the  American  mails  by  the  former 
class  of  vessels.  The  owners  of  the  Great  Western,  big 
with  confidence  in  the  reputation  of  that  ship,  applied  for 
the  contract ;  but,  not  a  little  to  their  chagrin,  it  was 
awarded  to  Mr  (afterwards  Sir  Samuel)  Cunard,  who  as  far 
back  as  1830  had  proposed  the  establishment  of  a  steam 
mail  service  across  the  Atlantic.  The  terms  of  the  original 
contract  were,  that  for  the  sum  of  fifty-five  thousand  pounds 
per  annum,  Messrs  Cunard,  Burns,  and  Maclver  should 
supply  three  ships  suitable  for  the  purpose,  and  accomplish 
two  voyages  each  month  between  Liverpool  and  the 
United  States,  leaving  England  at  certain  periods ;  but 
shortly  afterwards  it  was  deemed  more  expedient  to  name 
fixed  dates  of  departure  on  both  sides  of  the  Western 
Ocean.  Subsequently,  another  ship  was  required  to  be 
added  to  the  service,  and  the  amount  of  the  subsidy  was 
raised  to  eighty-one  thousand  pounds  a  year.  The  steam 
mail  service  between  Liverpool,  Halifax,  and  Boston  was 
regularly  established  in  1840,  the  first  vessel  engaged  in 
it  being  the  Britannia,  the  pioneer  ship  of  the  present 
Cunard  line. 

We  get  an  admirable  idea  of  what  these  early  steam- 
ships were  from  Dickens's  account  of  this  same  Britannia, 
which  was  the  vessel  he  crossed  to  America  in  on  his 
first  visit  to  that  country  in  1842.  In  one  of  his  letters 
to  John  Forster,  describing  a  storm  they  were  overtaken 
by,  he  unconsciously  reflects  the  wondering  regard  with 
which  the  world  still  viewed  the  triumphant  achievements 
of  the  marine  engine.  '  For  two  or  three  hours,'  he  writes, 
'  we  gave  it  up  as  a  lost  thing.  This  was  not  the  exag- 
gerated apprehension  of  a  landsman  merely.  The  head- 
engineer,  who  had  been  in  one  or  the  other  of  the  Cunard 


224  STEAMERS    AND    SAILING-SHIPS. 

vessels  since  they  began  running,  had  never  seen  such 
stress  of  weather  ;  and  I  afterwards  heard  Captain  Hewitt 
say  that  nothing  but  a  steamer,  and  one  of  that  strength, 
could  have  kept  her  course  and  stood  it  out.  A  sailing- 
vessel  must  have  beaten  off  and  driven  where  she  would  ; 
while  through  all  the  fury  of  that  gale  they  actually  made 
fifty-four  miles  headlong  through  the  tempest,  straight 
on  end,  not  varying  their  track  in  the  least.'  What  would 
the  skipper  of  one  of  the  modern  '  Atlantic  greyhounds ' 
think  of  such  a  feat  ?  And,  more  interesting  speculation 
still,  what  must  Dickens  himself  have  thought  of  the 
performances  he  lived  to  witness  as  against  this  astonishing 
accomplishment  on  the  part  of  the  old  Britannia  ? 

There  exists  a  tendency  to  ridicule  the  early  steamers 
as  they  appear  in  portraits,  with  their  huge  paddle-boxes ; 
tall,  thin,  dog-eared  funnels ;  and  heavily-rigged  masts, 
as  though  their  engines  were  regarded  as  quite  auxiliary 
to  their  sail-power,  and  by  no  means  to  be  relied  upon. 
Contrasted  with  some  of  the  leviathans  of  the  present 
day,  the  steamers  of  half  a  century  ago  are  no  longer 
calculated  to  strike  an  awe  into  the  beholder;  but,  in 
truth,  some  very  fine  vessels  were  built  whilst  the  marine 
engine  was  still  quite  in  its  infancy.  In  a  volume  of 
the  Railway  Magazine  for  1839  is  an  account  of  what 
are  termed  colossal  steamers.  *  An  immense  steamer,' 
runs  the  description,  'upwards  of  two  hundred  feet  long, 
was  lately  launched  at  Bristol,  for  plying  between  England 
and  America  ;  but  the  one  now  building  at  Carling  &  Co.'s, 
Limehouse,  for  the  American  Steam-navigation  Company, 
surpasses  anything  of  the  kind  hitherto  made.  She  is  to 
be  named  after  our  Queen,  the  Victoria;  will  cost  from 
eighty  to  one  hundred  thousand  pounds,  has  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  men  now  employed  daily  upon  her,  and 
is  expected  to  be  finished  in  November  next.  The 
extreme  length  is  about  253   feet;  but  she  is    237    feet 


THE    FIRST    STEAMER    TO    CROSS    THE    ATLANTIC.       225 

between  the  perpendiculars,  40J  feet  beam  between  the 
paddle-boxes,  and  twenty-seven  feet  one  inch  deep  from 
the  floor  to  the  inner  side  of  the  spar-deck.  The  engines 
are  two,  of  250  horse-power  each,  with  six  feet  four  inch 
cylinders,  and  seven  feet  stroke.  They  are  to  be  fitted 
with  Hall's  patent  condensers,  in  addition  to  the  common 
ones.  She  displaces  at  sixteen  feet  2740  tons  of  water; 
her  computed  tonnage  is  1800  tons.  At  the  water-line 
every  additional  inch  displaces  eighteen  and  a  half  tons. 
The  average  speed  is  expected  to  be  about  two  hundred 
nautical  miles  a  day,  and  consumption  of  coal  about  thirty 
tons.  The  best  Welsh  coal  is  to  be  used.  It  is  calcu- 
lated she  will  make  the  outward  passage  to  New  York 
in  eighteen  days,  and  the  homeward  in  twelve,  consuming 
540  tons  of  coal  out,  and  360  home.  Expectation  is  on 
tiptoe  for  the  first  voyage  of  this  gigantic  steamer,  along- 
side of  which  other  steamers  look  like  little  fishing-boats.' 

The  next  route  on  which  steam-navigation  was  opened, 
following  upon  that  of  the  North  Atlantic  passage,  was 
between  Great  Britain  and  India.  The  steamers  of 
the  Honourable  Company  had  indeed  doubled  the  Cape 
nearly  two  years  before  the  Sirius  and  Great  Wester ti 
sailed  upon  their  first  trip.  The  Nautical  Magazine  for 
1836  contains  the  original  prospectus  issued  by  a 
syndicate  of  London  merchants  upon  the  subject  of 
steam-communication  with  the  East  Indies.  As  an 
illustration  of  the  almost  incredible  strides  that  have  been 
made  in  ocean  travelling  since  that  period,  this  piece  of 
literature  is  most  instructive.  The  circular  opens  by 
announcing  that  it  is  proposed  to  establish  steam  traffic 
with  India,  extending,  perhaps,  even  to  Australia !  It 
points  out  in  sanguine  terms  how  those  distant  parts  of 
the  earth,  by  the  contemplated  arrangement,  '  will  be 
reached  at  the  outset  in  the  short  period  of  seventy-three 
days  ;   and,   when  experience  is  obtained,   this  time  will 

o 


226  STEAMERS    AND    SAILING-SHIPS. 

in  all  probability  be  reduced  by  one-third ;  shortening 
the  distance  by  the  route  in  question,  from  England  to 
Australia,  in  forty  days'  steaming,  at  ten  miles  an  hour. 
If  two  days  be  allowed  for  stoppages  at  stations,  not 
averaging  more  than  a  thousand  miles  apart  throughout 
the  line,  the  whole  time  for  passing  between  the  extreme 
points  would  only  be  sixty  days,  but  a  relay  of  vessels 
will  follow,  if  the  undertaking  be  matured,  in  which  case 
twenty-four  hours  will  be  ample  time  at  the  depots,  and 
a  communication  may  be  expected  to  be  established,  and 
kept  up  throughout  the  year,  between  England  and 
Australia,  in  fifty  days.  It  is  reasonably  expected  that 
Bombay  will  be  reached  in  forty-eight  days,  Madras  in 
fifty-five,  Calcutta  in  fifty-nine,  Penang  in  fifty-seven, 
Singapore  in  sixty,  Batavia  in  sixty-two,  Canton  in  sixty- 
eight,  and  Mauritius  in  fifty-four  days.' 

The  Nautical  Magazine  writer  gravely  comments  upon 
this  scheme  as  quite  plausible.  He  is  indeed  inclined 
to  be  anticipatory.  Instead  of  seventy-three  days  to 
Australia,  he  is  of  opinion  that  the  voyage  may  ultimately 
be  accomplished  in  fifty,  and  that  the  table  of  time 
generally  may  be  reduced  by  about  one-third  throughout ; 
although,  to  qualify  his  somewhat  daring  speculations, 
he  admits  that  it  is  well  to  base  the  calculations  on  the 
safe  side.  But  the  Honourable  East  India  Company 
asserted  their  prerogatives,  and  put  a  stop  to  the  scheme 
of  the  New  Bengal  Steam  Company,  as  the  undertaking 
was  to  have  been  called.  This  raised  a  strong  feeling  of 
dissatisfaction,  and  the  Court  of  Directors  was  obliged 
to  provide  a  substitute  in  lieu  of  the  new  line  they  had 
refused  to  sanction.  Their  own  homely,  lubberly  craft 
were  quite  unequal  to  the  requirements  of  'prompt 
despatch'  which  even  then  was  beginning  to  agitate  the 
public  mind.  The  possibility  of  establishing  steam- 
communication    between    England    and    India   had    been 


THE    FIRST    STEAMER    TO    CROSS    THE    ATLANTIC.       227 

clearly  demonstrated  as  early  as  the  year  1825,  when 
the  Enterprise,  of  480  tons  and  120  horse-power,  sailed 
from  London  on  the  16th  of  August,  and  arrived  in 
Calcutta  on  the  seventh  of  December.  She  was  the  first 
steamer  to  make  the  passage  from  this  country  to  our 
great  Eastern  Empire ;  the  first,  indeed,  ever  to  double 
the  stormy  headland  of  the  Cape. 

But  it  was  not  until  the  people  of  India  began  to 
petition  and  the  merchants  of  London  to  clamour  for 
the  adoption  of  steam-power  in  the  Indian  navigation 
that  the  conservative  old  magnates  of  John  Company 
were  stimulated  into  action.  Lieutenant  Waghorn's  Over- 
land Route  had  almost  entirely  superseded  the  sea-voyage 
by  way  of  the  Cape  ;  but  the  want  of  an  efficient  packet 
service  between  London  and  Alexandria,  and  Suez  and 
Bombay,  was  greatly  felt.  Accordingly,  in  December 
1836,  the  steamship  Atalanta  was  despatched  from 
Falmouth  to  ply  on  the  Indian  side  of  the  route.  She 
was  a  vessel  of  630  tons  burden,  with  engines  of  210 
horse-power,  and  was  built  at  Blackvvall  by  the  once 
famous  firm  of  Wigram  &  Green.  The  orders  of 
Captain  Campbell,  who  commanded  her,  were  that  he 
was  to  steam  the  whole  distance,  only  resorting  to  sail- 
power  in  case  of  a  failure  of  machinery,  in  order  fully  to 
test  the  superiority  of  the  marine  engine  over  canvas. 
She  sustained  an  average  speed  of  about  eight  knots 
an  hour  during  the  entire  passage,  and  but  for  her 
repeated  stoppages  would  undoubtedly  have  accomplished 
the  quickest  voyage  yet  made  to  India.  She  was  followed, 
in  March  1837,  by  the  Bernice,  of  680  tons  and  230 
horse-power.  This  vessel,  which  likewise  made  the  run 
without  the  assistance  of  her  sails,  left  Falmouth  on  March 
17,  and  arrived  at  Bombay  on  the  13th  of  June. 

As  the  race  between  the  Sirins  and  the  Great  Western 
may  be    said  to   have    inaugurated    the    steam-navigation 


2  28  STEAMERS    AND    SAILING-SHIPS. 

of  the  Atlantic,  so  did  the  voyages  of  the  Atalanta  and 
Bernice  first  establish  regular  communication  by  steamers 
between  Great  Britain  and  India.  True,  there  had  been 
desultory  efforts  of  enterprise  prior  to  this  time,  and  the 
pioneer  of  the  Peninsular  and  Oriental  steamers,  the 
Royal  Tar,  had  sailed  some  three  years  before ;  but 
there  was  no  continual  service.  The  Times  of  Novem- 
ber ii,  1838,  pointed  out  the  approaching  change. 
1  Scarcely,'  it  says,  '  has  the  wonder  created  in  the  world 
by  the  appearance  of  the  Great  Western  and  British  Queen 
begun  to  subside,  when  we  are  again  called  upon  to 
admire  the  rapid  strides  of  enterprise  by  the  notice  of 
an  iron  steamship,  the  first  of  a  line  of  steamers  to  ply 
between  England  and  Calcutta,  to  be  called  the  Queen 
of  the  East,  2618  tons,  and  600  horse-power.  This 
magnificent  vessel  is  designed  by  Mr  W.  D.  Holmes, 
engineer  to  the  Bengal  Steam  Committee,  for  a  com- 
munication between  England  and  India.  Great  praise 
is  due  to  Captain  Barber,  late  of  the  Honourable  East 
India  Company's  service,  the  agent  in  London  for  the 
Steam  Committee  in  Bengal,  who  has  given  every 
encouragement  to  Mr  Holmes  in  carrying  forward  his 
splendid  undertaking.  When  these  vessels  are  ready, 
we  understand  the  voyage  between  Falmouth  and  Calcutta 
will  be  made  in  thirty  days.' 

From  this  time  ocean  steamers  multiplied  rapidly.  One 
after  another  of  the  now  famous  shipping  firms  sprang 
up,  beginning  with  the  Cunard  and  the  Peninsular  and 
Oriental  lines.  The  first  British  steamship  was  registered 
at  London  in  the  year  1814:  in  1842  there  were  940 
steamers  registered  ;  and  already  was  the  decay  of  the 
sailing-ship  so  largely  anticipated,  that  Mr  Sydney  Herbert, 
in  a  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons,  had  this 
same  year  pointed  out  '  that  the  introduction  of  steamers, 
and    the  consequent   displacement  of  the   Leith   smacks, 


THE    NEW    CUNARDERS.  229 

Margate  hoys,  &c,  would  diminish  the  nursery  for  seamen 
by  lessening  the  number  of  sailing-vessels.' 


THE    NEW    CUNARDERS. 

Less  than  fifty  years  ago  the  Eastern  Steam-navigation 
Company  having  failed  to  obtain  the  contract  to  carry  the 
mails  from  Plymouth  to  India  and  Australia — in  vessels 
of  from  twelve  hundred  to  two  thousand  tons,  with  engines 
of  from  four  to  six  hundred  horse-power,  which  were  never 
built — began  to  consider  a  new  enterprise,  suggested  by 
the  late  Isambard  K.  Brunei.  This  was  to  build  the 
largest  steamer  ever  yet  constructed,  to  trade  with  India 
round  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  The  general  commercial 
idea  was,  that  this  leviathan  vessel  was  to  carry  leviathan 
cargoes  at  large  freights  and  great  speed,  to  Ceylon,  where 
the  goods  and  passengers  would  be  rapidly  trans-shipped  to 
smaller  swift  steamers  for  conveyance  to  various  destina- 
tions in  India,  China,  and  Australia.  The  general 
mechanical  idea  was,  that  in  order  to  obtain  great  velocity 
in  steamers  it  was  only  necessary  to  make  them  large — 
that,  in  fact,  there  need  be  no  limit  to  the  size  of  a  vessel 
beyond  what  might  be  imposed  by  the  tenacity  of  material. 
On  what  was  called  the  tubular  principle,  Brunei  argued — 
and  proved  to  the  satisfaction  of  numerous  experts  and 
capitalists — that  it  was  possible  to  construct  a  vessel  of  six 
times  the  capacity  of  the  largest  vessel  then  afloat  that 
would  steam  at  a  speed  unattainable  by  smaller  vessels, 
while  carrying,  besides  cargo,  all  the  coal  she  would  require 
for  the  longest  voyage. 

Thus  originated  the  Great  Eastern,  which  never  went 
to  India,  which  ruined  two  or  three  companies  in  succes- 
sion, which  cost  ^120,000  to  launch,  which  probably  earned 
more  as  a  show  than  ever  she  did  as  an  ocean-carrier — ■ 


230  STEAMERS    AND    SAILING-SHIPS. 

except  in  the  matter  of  telegraph  cables — and  which 
ignobly  ended  a  disastrous  career  by  being  sold  for 
,£16,000,  and  broken  up  at  New  Ferry,  on  the  Mersey. 

We  are  now  entering  upon  a  new  era  of  big  ships,  in 
which  such  a  monster  as  the  Great  Eastern  would  be  no 
longer  a  wonder.  Two  additions  to  the  Cunard  fleet,  the 
Campania  (1892)  and  Luca?iia  (1893),  are  within  a  trifle 
as  large  as  she,  but  with  infinitely  more  powerful  engines 
and  incomparably  greater  speed. 

We  need  not  suppose,  however,  that  the  idea  of  big 
ocean  steamers  has  been  the  monopoly  of  this  country. 
So  long  ago  as  1850  or  thereabouts,  Mr  Randall,  a  famous 
American  shipbuilder,  designed,  drafted,  and  constructed 
the  model  of  a  steamer  for  transatlantic  service,  500  feet 
long  by  58  feet  beam,  to  measure  8000  tons.  A  company 
was  formed  in  Philadelphia  in  i860  to  carry  out  the 
project ;  but  the  civil  war  broke  out  soon  after,  and  she 
was  never  built. 

The  Great  Eastern  was  launched  in  January  1858, 
and  her  principal  dimensions  were  these  :  Length  between 
perpendiculars,  680  feet ;  breadth  of  beam,  8^  feet ;  length 
of  principal  saloons,  400  feet ;  tonnage  capacity  for  cargo 
and  coals,  18,000  tons;  weight  of  ship  as  launched,  12,000 
tons;  accommodation  for  passengers,  (1)  800,  (2)  2000,  (3) 
1200  =  4000;  total  horse-power,  7650.  She  had  both 
screw  and  paddles  for  propulsion,  and  her  displacement 
was  32,160  tons. 

By  this  time  the  Cunard  Company  had  been  eighteen 
years  in  existence.  They  started  in  1840  with  the 
Britannia — quickly  followed  by  the  Acadia,  Columbia, 
and  Caledonia,  all  more  or  less  alike — which  was  a 
paddle-steamer  of  wood,  207  feet  long,  34  feet  broad, 
22  feet  deep,  and  of  1156  tons,  with  side-lever  engines 
developing  740  indicated  horse-power,  which  propelled 
the  vessel  at  the  average  speed  of  nine  knots  an  hour. 


THE    NEW    CUNARDERS.  23 1 

There  was  accommodation  for  225  tons  of  cargo  and  115 
cabin  passengers — no  steerage  in  those  days — who  paid 
thirty-four  guineas  to  Halifax  and  thirty-eight  guineas  to 
Boston,  for  passage,  including  provisions  and  wine. 

At  the  time  of  the  Great  Eastern  the  latest  type  of 
Cunarder  was  the  Persia,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  the 
development  in  the  interim.  This  vessel  was  380  feet 
long,  45  feet  broad,  31  feet  deep,  of  3870  tons,  with 
engines  developing  4000  indicated  horse-power,  propelling 
at  the  rate  of  thirteen  and  a  half  knots  an  hour.  The 
Persia  and  the  Scotia,  sister-ships,  were  the  last  of  the 
Atlantic  side- wheelers.  In  1862  the  first  screw-steamer 
was  added  to  the  Cunard  fleet.  This  was  the  China, 
built  by  the  Napiers  of  Glasgow,  326  feet  long  by  40 J 
feet  broad,  and  27  J  feet  deep,  of  2600  tons,  and  with  an 
average  speed  of  about  twelve  knots. 

Such  was  the  type  of  Cunarder  in  the  early  days 
of  the  Great  Eastern,  whose  dimensions  have  now  been 
nearly  reached.  The  Campania,  however,  was  not  built 
with  a  view  to  outshine  that  huge  failure,  but  is  the  out- 
come of  a  wholly  different  competition.  The  Campania 
and  the  Lucania  represent  the  highest  development  of 
marine  architecture  and  engineering  skill,  and  are  the 
product  of  long  years  of  rivalry  for  the  possession  of  the 
*  blue  ribbon  '  of  the  transatlantic  race. 

The  competition  is  of  ancient  date,  if  we  go  back  to  the 
days  when  the  American  '  Collins '  Company  tried  to  run 
the  Cunard  Company  off  the  waters ;  and  during  the 
half-century  since  the  inauguration  of  steam  service  the 
Cunard  Company  have  sometimes  held  and  sometimes 
lost  the  highest  place  for  speed.  The  period  of  steam- 
racing — the  age  of  '  Atlantic  greyhounds  ' — may  be  said  to 
have  begun  in  the  year  1879,  when  the  Cunard  Gallia,  the 
Guion  Arizona,  and  the  White  Star  Britannic  and  Germanic 
had  all  entered  upon  their  famous  careers.     It  is  matter  of 


THE    NEW    CUNARDERS.  233 

history  now  how  the  Arizona — called  the  '  Fairfield  Flyer,' 
because  she  was  built  by  Messrs  John  Elder  &  Company, 
of  Fairfield,  Glasgow — beat  the  record  in  an  eastward  run 
of  seven  days  twelve  and  a  half  hours,  and  a  westward  run 
of  seven  days  ten  and  three-quarter  hours.  To  beat  the 
Arizo?ia,  the  Cunard  Company  built  the  Servia,  of  8500 
tons  and  10,300  horse-power;  but  she  in  turn  was  beaten 
by  another  Fairfield  Flyer,  the  Alaska,  under  the  Guion 
flag.  The  race  continued  year  by  year,  as  vessels  of 
increasing  size  and  power  were  entered  by  the  competing 
companies.  While  all  the  lines  compete  in  swiftness, 
luxury,  and  efficiency,  the  keenest  rivalry  is  now  between 
the  Cunard  and  the  White  Star  companies.  And  just  as 
the  Campania  and  Lncania  were  built  to  eclipse  the  re- 
nowned Teutonic  and  Majestic,  so  the  owners  of  these 
boats  prepared  to  surpass  even  the  two  Cunarders  we 
describe. 

Let  us  now  see  something  of  these  marvels  of  marine 
architecture.  They  are  sister-ships,  both  built  on  the 
Clyde  by  the  Fairfield  Shipbuilding  and  Engineering  Com- 
pany, and  both  laid  down  almost  simultaneously.  They 
are  almost  identical  in  dimensions  and  appointments, 
and  therefore  we  may  confine  our  description  to  the 
Campania,  which  was  the  first  of  the  twins  to  be  ready 
for  sea. 

This  largest  vessel  afloat  does  not  mark  any  new  depar- 
ture in  general  type,  as  the  Great  Eastern  did  in  differing 
from  all  types  of  construction  then  familiar.  In  outward 
appearance,  the  Campania,  as  she  lies  upon  the  water,  and 
as  seen  at  a  sufficient  distance,  is  just  like  numbers  of 
other  vessels  we  have  all  seen.  Nor  does  her  immense 
size  at  first  impress  the  observer,  because  of  the  beautiful 
proportions  on  which  she  is  planned.  Her  lines  are 
eminently  what  the  nautical  enthusiast  calls  'sweet;' 
and   in  her  own  class  of  naval  art  she  is  as  perfect  a 


234  STEAMERS    AND    SAILING-SHIPS. 

specimen  of  architectural  beauty  as  the  finest  of  the  grand 
old  clippers  which  used  to  '  walk  the  waters  as  a  thing  of 
life. '  The  colossal  size  of  St  Peter's  at  Rome  does  not 
strike  you  as  you  enter,  because  of  the  exquisite  pro- 
portions. And  so  with  the  Campania — you  need  to  see 
an  ordinary  merchant-ship,  or  even  a  full-blown  liner, 
alongside  before  you  can  realise  how  vast  she  is. 

Yet  she  is  only  60  feet  shorter  than  the  mammoth  Great 
Eastern,  and  measures  620  feet  in  length,  65  feet  3  inches 
in  breadth,  and  43  feet  in  depth  from  the  upper  deck. 
Her  tonnage  is  12,000,  while  that  of  the  Great  Eastern 
was  18,000  ;  but  then  her  horse-power  is  30,000  as  against 
the  Great  Eastern's  7650  ! 

This  enormous  development  of  engine-power  is  perhaps 
the  most  remarkable  feature  about  these  two  new  vessels. 
Each  of  them  is  fitted  with  two  sets  of  the  most  powerful 
triple-expansion  engines  ever  put  together.  A  visit  to  the 
engine-room  is  a  liberal  education  in  the  mechanical  arts, 
and  even  to  the  eye  of  the  uninitiated  there  is  the  pre- 
dominant impression  of  perfect  order  in  the  bewildering 
arrangement  of  pipes,  rods,  cranks,  levers,  wheels,  and 
cylinders.  The  two  sets  of  engines  are  placed  in  two 
separate  rooms  on  each  side  of  a  centre-line  bulkhead 
fitted  with  water-tight  doors  for  intercommunication.  Each 
set  has  five  inverted  cylinders  which  have  exactly  the  same 
stroke,  and  work  on  three  cranks.  Two  of  the  cylinders 
are  high-pressure,  one  is  intermediate,  and  two  are  low- 
pressure.  Besides  the  main  engines,  there  are  engines  for 
reversing,  for  driving  the  centrifugal  pumps  for  the  con- 
densers, for  the  electric  light,  for  the  refrigerating  chambers, 
and  for  a  number  of  other  purposes — all  perfect  in  ap- 
pointment and  finish.  In  fact,  in  these  vast  engine-rooms 
one  is  best  able  to  realise  not  only  the  immense  size  and 
power  of  the  vessel,  but  also  the  perfection  to  which 
human  ingenuity  has  attained  after  generations  of  ceaseless 


THE    NEW    CUNARDERS.  235 

toil — and  yet  it  is  only  half  a  century  since  the  Britamiia 
began  the  transatlantic  race. 

Each  of  the  various  engines  has  its  own  steam-supplier. 
The  main  engines  are  fed  by  twelve  double-ended  boilers, 
arranged  in  rows  of  six  on  each  side  of  a  water-tight 
bulkhead.  The  boilers  are  heated  by  ninety-six  furnaces, 
and  each  set  of  six  boilers  has  a  funnel  with  the  diameter 
of  an  ordinary  railway  tunnel.  In  the  construction  of 
these  boilers  some  eight  hundred  tons  of  steel  were 
required,  the  plates  weighing  four  tons  each,  with  a 
thickness  of  an  inch  and  a  half.  From  these  mighty 
machines  will  be  developed  a  power  equal  to  that  of 
30,000  horses  !  Compare  this  with  the  Great  Eastern's 
7650  horse-power,  or  even  with  the  later  'greyhounds.' 
The  greatest  power  developed  by  the  two  previous  addi- 
tions to  the  Cunard  fleet,  the  Etruria  and  Umbria,  is 
about  14,000  horses,  which  is  the  utmost  recorded  by  any 
single-screw  engines.  The  City  of  Paris  has  a  power  of 
18,500,  and  the  Teutonics,  power  of  18,000  by  twin-screw 
engines.  The  Campania,  therefore,  is  upwards  of  half  as 
much  again  more  powerful  than  the  largest,  swiftest,  and 
most  powerful  of  her  predecessors. 

These  engines  of  the  Campania  work  two  long  pro- 
peller-shafts, each  carried  through  an  aperture  in  the  stern 
close  to  the  centre-line,  and  fitted  to  a  screw.  Unlike 
other  twin-screw  vessels,  the  propellers  and  shafts  are,  as 
it  were,  carried  within  the  hull,  and  not  in  separate  struc- 
tures. Abaft  of  the  screws,  the  rudder  is  completely 
submerged,  and  is  a  great  mass  of  steel-plating  weighing 
about  twenty-four  tons. 

With  a  straight  stem,  an  elliptic  stern,  two  huge  funnels, 
and  a  couple  of  pole-masts — intended  more  for  signalling 
purposes  than  for  canvas — the  Campania  looks  thoroughly 
business-like,  and  has  none  of  the  over-elaborated  get-up 
of  the  Great  Eastern,  with  her  double  system  of  propulsion 


236  STEAMERS   AND   SAILING-SHIPS. 

and  small  forest  of  masts.  The  bulwarks  are  close  fore 
and  aft ;  and  from  the  upper  deck  rise  two  tiers  of  houses, 
the  roofs  of  which  form  the  promenade  deck  and  the 
shade  deck.  In  the  structure  of  the  hull  and  decks 
enormous  strength  has  been  given,  with  special  protection 
at  vital  parts,  as  the  vessel  is  built  in  compliance  with  the 
Admiralty  requirements  for  armed  cruisers.  Below  the 
line  of  vision  are  four  other  complete  tiers  of  beams, 
plated  with  steel  sheathed  in  wood,  on  which  rest  upper, 
main,  lower,  and  orlop  decks.  The  last  is  for  cargo, 
refrigerating-chambers,  stores,  &c. — all  the  others  are 
devoted  to  the  accommodation  of  passengers. 

The  Campania  is  fitted  to  carry  460  first-class  pass- 
engers, 280  second-class,  and  700  steerage  passengers — in 
all,  1440,  besides  a  crew  of  400.  She  has  cargo-space  for 
1600  tons,  which  seems  a  trifle  in  comparison  with  her 
size,  but  then  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  fuel  con- 
sumption of  those  96  furnaces  is  enormous,  and  requires 
the  carrying  of  a  very  heavy  cargo  of  coals  for  internal 
consumption. 

The  accommodation  for  passengers  is  probably  the  most 
perfect  that  has  yet  been  provided  on  an  ocean  steamer, 
for  here  the  experience  of  all  previous  developments  has 
been  utilised.  The  dining-room  is  an  apartment  100  feet 
long  and  64  feet  broad,  furnished  in  handsome  dark  old 
mahogany,  to  seat  430  persons.  The  upholstery  is  taste- 
fully designed,  and  the  fittings  generally  are  elegant ;  but 
the  peculiar  feature  is  a  splendid  dome  rising  to  a  height 
of  thirty-three  feet  from  the  floor  to  the  upper  deck,  and 
designed  to  light  both  the  dining-room  and  the  drawing- 
room  on  the  deck  above  it.  The  grand  staircase  which 
conducts  to  these  apartments  is  of  teak-wood  ;  the  drawing- 
room  is  in  satin-wood  relieved  with  cedar  and  painted 
frieze  panels.  The  smoking-room  on  the  promenade  deck 
is  as  unlike  a  ship's  cabin  as  can  be  imagined ;  it  is,  in 


238  STEAMERS    AND    SAILING-SHIPS. 

fact,  a  reproduction  of  an  old  baronial  hall  of  the  Eliza- 
bethan age,  with  oaken  furniture  and  carvings.  The 
other  public  apartments,  library,  boudoir,  &c,  are  all 
more  remarkable  for  quiet  taste  and  artistic  effect  than  for 
the  gorgeousness  of  gilded  saloons  affected  on  some  lines, 
but  the  prevailing  feeling  is  one  of  luxurious  comfort. 
The  staterooms  for  first-class  passengers  occupy  the  main, 
upper,  and  promenade  decks,  and  they  are  as  much  like 
real  bedrooms  as  the  old  type  of  '  berths '  are  not. 
Besides  the  single  bedrooms,  there  are  suites  of  rooms  for 
families  or  parties,  finely  appointed  with  ornamental  woods, 
rich  carpets,  and  with  brass  bedsteads  instead  of  the  old 
wooden  bunks.  All  the  sleeping-rooms  are  as  light,  lofty, 
and  well  ventilated  as  the  sleeping-rooms  on  the  old  liners 
were  the  reverse. 

The  first-class  passengers  are  placed  amidships ;  the 
second-class  are  placed  aft ;  and  the  steerage,  forward. 
The  steerage  accommodation  is  superior  to  anything  yet 
provided  in  that  class ;  while  the  second-class  accommoda- 
tion is  quite  up  to  the  usual  first-class,  with  spacious, 
beautifully  furnished  staterooms,  a  handsome  dining-room 
in  oak,  an  elegant  drawing-room  in  satin-wood,  and  a  cosy 
smoking-room.  Indeed,  some  of  the  second-class  apart- 
ments look  as  if  they  were  intended  to  be  utilised  for  first- 
class  passengers  in  times  of  extra  pressure. 

These  are  details  of  interest  to  possible  passengers  and 
to  those  who  have  already  experienced  the  comforts  and 
discomforts  of  the  Atlantic  voyage.  But  the  great  interest 
of  the  ship,  of  course,  is  in  her  immense  size  and  enormous 
power.  The  navigating-bridge  from  which  the  officer  in 
charge  will  direct  operations,  is  no  less  than  sixty  feet 
above  the  water-level,  and  from  there  one  obtains  a 
survey  unique  of  its  kind.  The  towering  height,  the  vast 
expanse  of  deck,  the  huge  circumference  of  the  funnels, 
the  forest  of  ventilators  indicative  of  the  hives  of  industry 


THE    NEW    CUNARDERS.  239 

below,  the  great  lighthouse  structures  which  take  the  place 
of  the  old  angle-bedded  side-lights — everything  beneath 
you  speaks  of  power  and  speed,  of  strength  and  security. 

The  following  table  shows  at  a  glance  how  the  Cam- 
pania compares  with  her  largest  predecessors  in  point  of 
size  and  power  : 

rr Length  Breadth  Horse- 

Tonnage.  inf-et  Jnfeet  power 

Great  Eastern 18,900  682  82  7,650 

Britannic 5,000  455  46  5,5°° 

Arizona 5>!5o  450  45  6,300 

Servia 8,500  515  52  10,300 

Alaska 6,400  500  50  10,500 

City  of  Rome 8,000  545  52  11,890 

Aurania 7,270  470  57  8,500 

Oregon 7,375  500  54  7,375 

America 5,528  432  51  7,354 

Umbria 7,700  501  57  14,320 

Etruria 7,800  520  57  14,500 

City  of  Paris.. 10,500  560  63  '8,500 

Teutonic 9,860  582  57A  18,000 

Normannia 520  57I  ^,350 

ScS.".:..::.:.::::  I  "»*>       <*>       65      30,-0 


As  to  speed,  the  record  of  course  has  been  broken.  In 
1850  the  average  passage  of  a  Cunarder  westward  was 
thirteen  days,  and  eastward  twelve  days  sixteen  hours ;  in 
1890,  the  average  was  reduced  to  seven  days  fifteen  hours 
twenty-three  minutes,  and  seven  days  four  hours  and  fifty- 
two  minutes,  respectively.  The  fastest  individual  passages 
down  to  1 89 1  were  made  by  the  Etruria,  westwards  in 
six  days  one  hour  and  forty-seven  minutes ;  and  by  the 
Umbria,  eastwards  in  six  days  three  hours  and  seventeen 
minutes.  But  these  were  beaten  by  the  Teutonic,  which 
reduced  the  homeward  record  to  five  days  and  twenty-one 
hours ;  and  by  the  City  of  Paris,  which  reduced  the 
outward  passage  to  five  days  and  sixteen  hours.  Roughly 
speaking,  these  new  Cunarders  are  about  ten  times  the 
size  and  forty  times  the  power  of  the  pioneers  of  the  fleet, 


240  STEAMERS    AND    SAILING-SHIPS. 

and  the  Campania  will  run  every  twenty  minutes  almost  as 
many  miles  as  the  Brita?inia  could  laboriously  make  in  an 
hour. 

Is  it  possible  that  within  the  next  fifty  years  we  shall  be 
able  to  make  the  voyage  to  New  York  in  three  days? 
The  old  Britannia  took  fourteen  days  to  Boston,  and  it 
was  not  until  1852  that  the  ten  days'  record  to  New  York 
was  broken  by  the  '  Collins  '  Company.  If,  then,  in  forty 
years  we  reduced  the  record  from  ten  to  five,  who  can  say 
that  the  limit  of  speed  has  yet  been  reached? 


SAILING-SHIPS. 


A  modern  sailing-ship  replete  with  labour-saving  appli- 
ances is  a  veritable  triumph  of  the  naval  architect's  art,  and 
an  excellent  object  lesson  on  man's  power  over  the  forces 
of  nature.  If  Christopher  Columbus  could  revisit  our 
planet  from  the  shades,  he  would  doubtless  be  astonished 
by  a  critical  comparison  between  the  tiny  wooden  caravel 
with  which  he  discovered  a  New  World,  and  a  leviathan 
four-masted  steel  sailing-ship,  now  navigated  in  compara- 
tive comfort  to  every  possible  port  where  freight  is  obtain- 
able. Wooden  cargo-carrying  craft  impelled  by  the  un- 
bought  wind  are  surely  diminishing  in  numbers  ;  and  in  the 
near  future  it  is  not  improbable  that  a  stately  sailing-ship 
will  be  as  seldom  seen  on  the  waste  of  waters  as  a  screw 
steamship  was  half  a  century  ago.  Even  looking  leisurely 
backward  down  the  imposing  vista  of  the  last  thirty  years 
of  the  Victorian  era,  it  will  be  readily  perceived  with  what 
marvellous  mastery  iron  and  steel  have  supplanted,  not 
only  wood  in  the  hulls,  masts,  and  yards  of  sailing-ships, 
but  also  hemp  in  their  rigging. 

A  radical  revolution  has  been  effected  in  the  form,  size, 
and  construction  of  these  cargo-carriers  during  such  a  rela- 


u 


242  STEAMERS    AND    SAILING-SHIPS. 

tively  insignificant  interval,  and  the  end  is  not  yet.  The 
old-fashioned  type  of  wooden  merchantman  remained  prac- 
tically invariable  for  more  than  a  hundred  years ;  but 
change  is  all-powerful  at  present,  so  that  a  vessel  is  almost 
of  a  bygone  age  before  she  shall  have  completed  her 
maiden  voyage.  It  would  appear,  however,  that  the  limit 
of  size  has  been  reached.  Ship-owning  firms  and  ship- 
builders will  probably  soon  be  compelled  to  keep  the 
modern  steel  sailing-ship  within  more  moderate  dimen- 
sions. Vessels  of  exceptionally  large  carrying  capacity  are 
in  demand  owing  to  the  fact  that  experience  proves  them 
to  be  the  best  kind  for  affording  a  fair  return  to  the  capital 
invested.  Salvage  appliances  and  docks  do  not  keep  pace 
with  the  requirements  of  such  leviathans;  so  that  under- 
writers evince  an  increasing  dislike  to  big  ships,  and  the 
premium  for  insurance  rises  accordingly,  to  compensate  for 
extra  risk. 

Many  mariners  and  some  shipbuilders  were  at  one  time 
quick  to  express  a  pronounced  opinion  that  it  was  quite 
unnatural  for  an  iron  ship  to  remain  afloat.  Wood  was 
made  to  swim,  but  iron  to  sink,  said  these  sincere  but  mis- 
taken admirers  of  the  good  old  days.  Their  misgivings 
have  proved  to  be  without  foundation  in  fact,  for  iron  ships 
have  ousted  wooden  craft  almost  utterly  from  the  ocean- 
carrying  traffic.  Iron  has  also  reached  its  meridian  alti- 
tude, and  steel  is  rapidly  rising  above  the  horizon  of  pro- 
gress. The  shipbuilding  yards  of  Nova  Scotia,  Canada, 
the  United  States  of  America,  and  British  Columbia,  how- 
ever, still  launch  wooden  sailing-vessels,  although  in  de- 
creasing numbers,  and,  as  a  rule,  of  inconsiderable  tonnage. 

It  seems  scarcely  credible  that  only  as  recently  as  1870 
there  were  not  more  than  ten  sailing-ships  afloat  of  two 
thousand  tons  register  and  upwards  under  the  red  ensign 
of  the  British  mercantile  marine.  To-day  we  have  more 
than   that   number   of  splendid    steel   sailing-ships,    each 


SAILING-SHIPS.  243 

having  a  register  tonnage  in  excess  of  three  thousand. 
During  the  twelve  months  of  1892  there  were  turned  out 
from  one  yard  alone  on  the  Clyde,  that  of  Messrs  Russell 
&  Co.,  no  fewer  than  thirteen  huge  sailing-vessels,  varying 
in  register  tonnage  from  two  thousand  three  hundred  to 
three  thousand  five  hundred  !  One  of  the  largest  wooden 
sailing-ships  afloat  in  1870  was  the  British  Empire,  of  two 
thousand  seven  hundred  tons  register,  which,  under  the 
command  of  Captain  A.  Pearson,  was  an  ark  of  safety  to 
the  families  of  European  residents  in  Bombay  during  the 
Indian  Mutiny.  She  had  been  originally  intended  for 
a  steamship,  and  this  will  account  for  her  exceptional 
dimensions.  The  shipbuilding  firm  of  A.  Sewall  &  Co.,  of 
Bath,  Maine,  U.S.A.,  in  1889  built  the  Rappahannock,  of 
3054  tons  register ;  in  1890,  the  Shenandoah,  3258  tons  ;  in 
1891,  the  Susquehanna,  2629  tons;  and  in  1892,  the 
Roanoke,  of  3400  tons  register. 

Several  cities  claim  to  be  the  birthplace  of  Homer,  and 
there  exists  similar  rivalry  with  respect  to  the  first  iron 
ship.  This  at  least  is  certain,  that  the  first  iron  vessel 
classed  by  Lloyd's  was  the  British  barque  Ironsides,  in 
1838.  She  was  but  271  tons  register.  The  Clyde  stands 
facile princeps  in  this  most  important  branch  of  industry. 
Vessels  built  on  the  banks  of  that  river  have  rendered  a 
praiseworthy  account  of  themselves  on  every  sea  and  under 
every  flag.  No  other  country,  save  ourselves,  launched 
any  iron  or  steel  ships  of  2000  tons  register  or  above,  but 
preferred  to  obtain  them  from  our  shipbuilding  yards.  The 
so-called  protection  of  native  industry  principle  prevailing 
in  America  precludes  ship-owners  over  there  from  taking 
advantage  directly  of  the  cheapest  market.  Several  of  the 
large  sailers,  however,  built  on  the  Clyde  for  citizens  of 
the  United  States  are  therefore  necessarily  sailed  under  the 
British,  Hawaiian,  or  some  flag  other  than  that  of  the 
country  to  which  they  actually  belong. 


244  STEAMERS    AND    SAILING-SHIPS. 

The  number  of  seamen  carried  per  one  hundred  tons  in 
the  modern  four-masted  sailing-ship  is  cut  down  to  the 
uttermost  limit  consistent  with  safety ;  and,  as  a  conse- 
quence, dismasting  and  tedious  passages  are  not  in- 
frequent. The  Hawaiian  Isles,  2097  tons  register,  a 
United  States  ship  under  a  foreign  flag,  bound  to  Cali- 
fornia with  a  cargo  of  coal,  found  it  impossible  to  weather 
Cape  Horn  by  reason  of  violent  westerly  gales.  She  was 
turned  round,  ran  along  the  lone  Southern  Ocean,  before 
the  '  brave  west  winds '  so  admirably  described  by  Maury, 
and  eventually  reached  her  destination  by  the  route  lead- 
ing south  of  Australia.  She  was  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
nine  days  on  the  passage,  and  no  fewer  than  sixty  guineas 
per  cent,  had  been  freely  paid  for  her  re-insurance.  A 
similar  ship,  the  John  E?ia,  carrying  a  substantial  cargo  of 
4222  tons  of  coal  from  Barry  to  San  Francisco,  also 
encountered  bad  weather,  made  a  long  passage,  and 
twenty  guineas  per  cent,  was  paid  on  her  for  re-insurance. 
Another  new  ship,  the  Achnashie,  2476  tons  register,  got 
into  still  more  serious  difficulty  under  like  circumstances. 
She  had  to  put  back  to  Cape  Town,  damaged  and  leaky, 
after  attempting  in  vain  to  contend  against  the  bitter  blast 
off  Cape  Horn.  There,  her  cargo  was  discharged,  and  she 
went  into  dry-dock  for  the  absolutely  necessary  repairs. 
The  Austrasia,  2718  tons  register,  was  almost  totally  dis- 
masted near  the  island  of  Tristan  da  Cunha,  in  the  South 
Atlantic,  on  her  maiden  passage,  while  bound  from  Liver- 
pool to  Calcutta  with  a  cargo  of  salt.  By  dint  of  sterling 
seamanship  she  was  brought  to  Rio  Janeiro  in  safety,  re- 
turned to  Liverpool  under  improvised  masts,  discharged 
her  cargo,  refitted,  took  in  quite  a  different  cargo  at 
London,  and  sailed  for  California.  The  Somali,  3537 
tons  register,  the  largest  sailing-ship  launched  in  1892,  was 
dismasted  in  the  China  Sea.  Everything  above  the  .lower 
masts  had  to  be  made  for  her  on  the  Clyde ;  yet,  within 


SAILING-SHIPS.  245 

fifteen  days  of  the  order  being  received  by  Messrs  Russell 
<$:  Co.,  the  spars  and  gear  were  completed  and  shipped  for 
passage  to  the  Somali  at  Hong-kong.  Underwriters  suffer 
severely  with  such  ships. 

One  of  the  largest  sailing-ships  afloat  is  the  French  five- 
master,  La  France,  launched  in  1890  on  the  Clyde,  and 
owned  by  Messrs  A.  D.  Bordes  et  Fils,  who  possess  a  large 
fleet  of  sailing-vessels.  In  1891  she  came  from  Iquique  to 
Dunkirk  in  one  hundred  and  five  days  with  6000  tons  of 
nitrate ;  yet  she  was  stopped  on  the  Tyne  when  proceed- 
ing to  sea  with  5500  tons  of  coal,  and  compelled  to  take 
out  500  tons  on  the  ground  that  she  was  overladen. 
There  is  not  a  single  five-masted  sailing-ship  under  the 
British  flag.  The  United  States  has  two  five-masters,  the 
Louis  of  830  tons,  and  the  Gov.  Ames  of  1778  tons,  both 
fore-and-aft  schooners,  a  rig  peculiar  to  the  American 
coast.  Ships  having  five  masts  can  be  counted  on  the 
fingers  of  one  hand ;  but,  strange  to  say,  the  steamship 
Coptic,  of  the  Shaw,  Savill,  &  Albion  Co.,  on  her  way  to 
New  Zealand,  in  December  1890,  passed  the  Gov.  Ames 
in  fourteen  degrees  south,  thirty-four  degrees  west,  bound 
for  California ;  and  two  days  later,  in  six  degrees  south, 
thirty-one  degrees  west,  the  French  five-master,  La  France, 
bound  south.  Passengers  and  crew  of  the  Coptic  might 
travel  over  many  a  weary  league  of  sea,  and  never  again  be 
afforded  two  such  excellent  object  lessons  in  the  growth  of 
sailing-ships  in  quick  succession. 

Some  large  sailing-ships  experience  a  decided  difficulty 
in  obtaining  freights  that  will  repay  expenses,  even  ignor- 
ing a  margin  for  profit,  and  we  are  reluctantly  compelled 
to  confess  that  the  days  of  sailing-ships  are  almost 
numbered,  The  cry  for  huge  sailers  is  an  evidence  that 
steam  is  determining  the  dimensions  of  the  most  modern 
cargo-carriers  under  sail. 


CHAPTER    IX. 


POST-OFFICE-TELEGRAPH-TELEPHONE- 
PHONOGRAPH. 

Rowland  Hill  and  Penny  Postage — A  Visit  to  the  Post-office — The 
Post-office  on  Wheels — Early  Telegraphs — Wheatstone  and  Morse 
— The  State  and  the  Telegraphs — Atlantic  Cables — Telephones — 
Edison  and  the  Phonograph. 

THE    STORY    OF    ROWLAND    HILL    AND    PENNY    POSTAGE. 

HE  story  of  Penny  Postage  and  its  inception 
by  Sir  Rowland  Hill  is  full  of  romantic 
interest,  and  that  great  social  reform,  intro- 
duced more  than  fifty  years  ago,  has  unques- 
tionably spread  its  beneficial  influence  over 
every  country  in  which  a  postal  system  of  any  kind  exists.  , 
The  Hill  family  were,  we  know,  in  those  bygone  days 
far  from  being  well  off,  and  were  often  hard  put  to  to 
find  the  money  to  pay  the  high  postage  on  letters  which 
they  received.  Born  in  1795,  Rowland  Hill  was  consider- 
ably past  middle  life  before  he  entertained  any  idea  of 
practising  his  reforming  hand  on  the  Post-office,  and  had 
passed  a  busy  existence  chiefly  as  a  schoolmaster,  in  which 
capacity  he  had  indulged  in  many  schemes,  scholastic  and 
otherwise,  with  more  or  less  success.  At  the  time  that 
his  attention  was  first  directed  to  Post-office  matters,  he 
was  employed  as  Secretary  of  the  Commissioners  for  the 
Colonisation    of    South    Australia.       He    was    no    doubt 


248  POST-OFFICE. 

attracted  to  the  subject  of  postal  reform  by  the  frequent 
discussions  which  were  then  taking  place  in  parliament  in 
regard  to  the  matter.  Mr  Wallace  of  Kelly,  the  member 
for  Greenock,  who  was  the  champion  of  the  cause  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  was  fierce  in  his  denunciation  of  the 
existing  abuses  and  irregularities  of  the  post,  and  sub- 
sequently proved  a  strong  and  able  advocate  of  the 
scheme  for  postage  reform. 

Once  arrested  by  the  subject  which  has  since  made  his 
life  famous,  Rowland  Hill  went  to  work  in  a  very  systematic 
manner.  Firstly,  he  read  very  carefully  all  the  Reports 
relative  to  the  Post-office;  then  he  placed  himself  in 
communication  with  Mr  Wallace  and  the  Postmaster- 
general,  both  of  whom  readily  supplied  him  with  all 
necessary  information.  In  this  manner  he  made  himself 
acquainted  with  his  subject,  with  the  result  that,  in  1837, 
he  published  his  famous  pamphlet  on  Post-office  Reform  : 
its  Importance  and  Practicability,  the  first  edition  being 
circulated  privately  amongst  the  members  of  parliament 
and  official  people ;  while  some  months  later  a  second 
edition  was  published  which  was  given  to  the  public. 

We  have  to  remember  that  at  this  time  the  postage 
charges  were  enormously  high,  that  they  depended  not 
upon  weight  alone,  but  also  upon  the  number  of  enclosures, 
and  that  they  varied  according  to  distance.  Thus,  for 
example,  a  letter  under  one  ounce  in  weight  and  with  one 
enclosure  (that  is,  sheet  or  scrap  of  paper)  posted  in 
London  for  delivery  within  the  metropolitan  area,  or  even, 
we  believe,  fifteen  miles  out,  cost  2d. ;  if  for  delivery  thirty 
miles  out,  3d. ;  eighty  miles  out,  4d.  ;  and  so  on.  Again, 
as  showing  how  the  charges  according  to  enclosure 
operated,  a  letter  with  a  single  enclosure  from  London  to 
Edinburgh  was  charged  is.  1  Jd. ;  if  double,  2s.  3d. ;  and 
if  treble,  3s.  4^d.  Moreover,  the  charges  were  not 
consistently  made,  for  whereas  an  Edinburgh  letter  (posted 


ROWLAND    HILL    AND    PENNY    POSTAGE.  249 

in  London)  was  charged  is.  ijd.,  a  letter  for  Louth, 
which  cost  the  Post-office  fifty  times  as  much  as  the 
former  letter,  was  only  charged  iod. 

The  public,  however,  found  means  of  their  own  of 
remedying  the  evil,  which,  if  not  wholly  legitimate,  were 
under  the  circumstances  to  be  regarded  with  some  degree 
of  leniency.  Letter-smuggling  was  a  not  unnatural  result 
of  the  high  and  disproportionate  charges  referred  to,  and 
was  almost  openly  adopted  to  an  extent  that  is  hardly 
credible.  Thus,  many  Manchester  merchants — Mr  Cobden 
amongst  the  number — stated  before  the  Post-office  Inquiry 
Committee  appointed  in  1838,  their  belief  that  four-fifths 
of  the  letters  written  in  that  town  did  not  pass  through  the 
Post-office.  A  carrier  in  Scotland  confessed  to  having 
carried  sixty  letters  daily  for  a  number  of  years,  and  knew 
of  others  who  carried  five  hundred  daily.  A  Glasgow 
publisher  and  bookseller  said  he  sent  and  received  fifty 
letters  or  circulars  daily,  and  added  that  he  was  not 
caught  until  he  had  sent  twenty  thousand  letters  otherwise 
than  through  the  post !  There  were  also  other  methods 
of  evading  the  postage  rates  at  work.  Letters  were 
smuggled  in  newspapers,  which  in  these  days  passed  free 
within  a  stated  period  through  the  post,  the  postage  being 
covered  by  the  stamp-duty  impressed  on  the  papers. 
Invisible  ink,  too,  was  used  for  inditing  messages  on  the 
newspapers  themselves ;  while  the  use  of  certain  pre- 
arranged codes  on  the  covers  of  letters  was  likewise 
systematically  adopted,  the  addressees,  after  turning  the 
letters  over  and  learning  from  the  covers  all  they  desired 
to  know,  declining  to  take  in  the  letters  on  the  ground 
that  they  could  not  afford  to  pay  the  postage. 

The  system  of  'franking'  letters  in  the  high-postage 
days  led  to  an  appalling  abuse  of  that  privilege,  which 
belonged  to  peers  and  members  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
It  was  no  doubt  originally  allowed  to  enable  members  to 


25O  POST-OFFICE. 

correspond  with  their  constituents ;  but  under  the  circum- 
stances it  is  perhaps  not  surprising  that  the  plan  soon 
became  abused,  and  was  ultimately  used  to  cover  all  kinds 
of  correspondence,  not  only  members'  but  other  people's 
as  well.  At  one  time,  indeed,  all  sorts  of  curious  packages 
passed  free  under  the  franking  privilege,  such  as  dogs,  a 
cow,  parcels  of  lace,  bales  of  stockings,  boxes  of  medicine, 
flitches  of  bacon,  &c.  Sometimes,  indeed,  franked  covers 
were  actually  sold ;  and  they  have  even  been  known  to 
be  given  in  lieu  of  wages  to  servants,  who  speedily  con- 
verted them  into  ready  money. 

This  abuse,  taken  together  with  the  illicit  traffic  in 
letters,  so  openly  and  widely  carried  on,  formed  of  course 
a  most  important  argument  in  favour  of  the  proposals  for 
cheap  postage  formulated  by  Rowland  Hill,  and  no  doubt 
did  much  to  damage  the  cause  of  his  opponents.  But 
there  is  one  other  abuse  to  which  Londoners  were  subject 
which  may  just  be  mentioned.  At  that  time  the  Two- 
penny Post  was  in  operation  in  the  English  metropolis, 
and  would  have  fairly  served  the  inhabitants  in  postal 
matters  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  practice  which  existed 
of  allowing  commercial  houses  and  other  firms  who  were 
willing  to  pay  for  the  privilege  to  have  their  letters  picked 
out  from  the  general  heap  and  delivered  by  special 
postmen,  and  so  enable  them  to  get  their  correspondence 
an  hour  earlier  than  those  who  did  not  pay  the  '  quarter- 
age,' as  it  was  called,  of  five  shillings  (per  quarter),  and 
which,  it  appears,  went  into  the  pockets  of  the  postmen 
concerned,  many  of  whom,  we  are  told,  and  it  can  easily 
be  understood,  thus  made  incomes  of  from  three  to  four 
hundred  pounds  a  year.  However  beneficial  such  a 
system  was  to  commerce  and  trade  in  London,  it  operated 
most  unfairly  on  ordinary  correspondents,  and  it  was 
certainly  not  the  least  of  the  evils  which  the  introduction 
of  Penny  Postage  swept  away. 


ROWLAND    HILL    AND    PENNY    POSTAGE.  25 1 

It  is  not  necessary  to  enter  at  any  length  into  all  the 
arguments  that  weighed  with  Rowland  Hill  in  propounding 
his  great  scheme.  It  need  only  be  very  briefly  stated 
that  the  great  point  to  which  he  applied  himself  was  the 
cost  to  the  Post-office  of  receiving,  transmitting,  and 
delivering  a  letter.  Having  roughly  and,  as  subsequently 
proved,  not  inaccurately  calculated  the  average  postage  at 
sixpence  farthing  per  letter,  he  then  went  to  work  to 
ascertain  the  expenses  of  management ;  and  the  result  of 
his  investigations  showed  that,  no  matter  what  distance 
had  to  be  traversed,  the  average  cost  of  each  letter  to  the 
government  was  less  than  one-tenth  of  a  penny !  From 
this  there  was  only  one  conclusion  that  could  well  be 
forced  on  his  mind,  and  that  was  a  uniform  rate  of  postage. 
Having  solved  this  great  problem,  there  were  many  other 
matters  of  adjustment  and  improvement  to  which  his 
attention  had  to  be  given.  He  was,  for  example,  not  long 
in  deciding  that  the  charge  according  to  enclosures  was 
an  iniquitous  one,  and  that  a  just  and  fair  tax  could  only 
be  made  according  to  weight.  Then,  again,  he  clearly 
saw  that  the  principle  of  throwing  the  postage  on  the 
recipients  of  letters  was  an  improper  one,  while  it  was  also 
a  burden  on  the  Post-office  employees.  The  prepayment 
of  postage  became  necessarily  a  feature  of  his  plan ;  but 
he  experienced  some  difficulty  in  arriving  at  a  feasible 
method  of  adopting  it.  At  first  he  considered  that  this 
might  be  carried  out  by  payment  of  money  over  the 
counter ;  but  he  subsequently  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  purposes  of  the  public  and  the  Post-office  would  be 
better  served  by  the  use  of  some  kind  of  stamp  or  stamped 
covers  for  letters,  and  this  arrangement  he  brought  forward 
and  fully  explained  before  the  Commissioners  of  Post-office 
Inquiry,  referring  to  it  as  '  Mr  Knight's  excellent  sugges- 
tion.' Charles  Knight  had  suggested  the  idea  of  stamps 
for  prepayment  in   1833-34.     The  following  extract  from 


252  POST-OFFICE. 

the  Commissioners'  Report,  which  gives  a  brief  description 
of  the  proposed  arrangement,  may  perhaps  be  read  with 
interest  at  the  present  time  : 

'That  stamped  covers,  or  sheets  of  paper,  or  small 
vignette  stamps— the  latter,  if  used,  to  be  gummed  on  the 
face  of  the  letter — be  supplied  to  the  public  from  the 
Stamp-office,  and  sold  at  such  a  price  as  to  include  the 
postage.  Letters  so  stamped  to  be  treated  in  all  respects 
as  franks.  That  each  should  have  the  weight  it  is  entitled 
to  carry  legibly  printed  upon  the  stamp.  That  the  stamp 
of  the  receiving-house  should  be  struck  upon  the  super- 
scription or  duty  stamp,  to  prevent  the  latter  being  used  a 
second  time.  The  vignette  stamps  being  portable,  persons 
could  carry  them  in  their  pocket-books.' 

The  proposed  arrangement  met  with  approval  from  the 
Commissioners,  and  also  from  the  Committee  on  Postage 
in  1837  and  1838;  and,  in  consequence,  the  Penny 
Postage  Act  of  1840  contained  a  clause  providing  for  the 
use  of  such  stamps  and  stamped  covers. 

Such  were  the  main  points  of  Rowland  Hill's  plan, 
which  was  so  logical  and  reasonable  in  all  its  features,  and 
so  intelligible  to  the  popular  mind,  that  it  can  be  readily 
understood  how  heartily  it  was  embraced  by  the  general 
public.  But  popular  as  his  scheme  was  with  the  mass  of 
the  people,  it  encountered  the  bitterest  opposition  from 
many  quarters ;  and  in  successfully  carrying  it  through, 
Rowland  Hill  had,  like  most  other  great  reformers,  to 
overcome  huge  difficulties  and  obstacles.  It  is  very 
amusing  at  this  distance  of  time,  when  we  have  become  so 
accustomed  to  the  immense  advantages  of  Penny  Postage 
as  to  view  them  almost  as  part  of  the  ordinary  conditions 
of  life,  to  recall  some  of  the  arguments  used  fifty  years 
ago  against  the  measure.  Lord  Lichfield,  as  Postmaster- 
general,  in  adverting  to  the  scheme  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
described  it  thus  :    '  Of   all    the   wild  visionary  schemes 


ROWLAND    HILL    AND    PENNY    POSTAGE.  253 

which  I  have  ever  heard  of,  it  is  the  most  extravagant ; ' 
and  endorsed  this  statement  six  months  later  when  he 
had  given  more  attention  to  the  subject,  being  'even  still 
more  firmly  of  the  same  opinion.'  On  a  subsequent 
occasion  he  contended  that  the  mails  would  have  to  carry 
twelve  times  as  much  in  weight  as  before,  and  therefore 
the  charge  would  be  twelve  times  the  amount  then  paid. 
1  The  walls  of  the  Post-office,'  he  exclaimed,  '  would  burst ; 
the  whole  area  in  which  the  building  stands  would  not  be 
large  enough  to  receive  the  clerks  and  letters.'  Outside 
the  Post-office,  too,  as  well  as  by  both  the  government 
and  opposition,  much  animosity  was  exhibited  against  the 
proposal. 

If,  however,  the  opposition  against  the  introduction  of 
Penny  Postage  was  strong,  the  advocacy  of  the  plan  was 
no  less  powerful,  while,  moreover,  it  was  thoroughly 
backed  by  popular  opinion.  Complaints  as  to  the  high 
rates  of  postage  flowed  in,  and  parliament  was  nearly 
inundated  with  petitions  in  favour  of  the  scheme,  which 
also  received  much  literary  support.  The  Mercantile 
Committee  during  all  the  time  of  agitation  actively  spread 
information  of  the  progress  of  the  measure,  with  a  view  to 
rouse  the  public  to  a  sense  of  its  importance.  The  Post 
circular  kept  circulating;  and  handbills,  fly-sheets,  and 
pictorial  illustrations  were  freely  distributed.  One  print 
took  a  dramatic  form,  representing  '  A  Scene  at  Windsor 
Castle,'  in  which  the  Queen,  being  in  the  Council 
Chamber,  is  made  to  say  :  '  Mothers  pawning  their  clothes 
to  pay  the  postage  of  a  child's  letter !  Every  subject 
studying  how  to  evade  the  postage  without  caring  for  the 
law  ! ' — (To  Lord  Melbourne)  :  '  I  trust,  my  lord,  you  have 
commanded  the  attendance  of  the  Postmaster-general  and 
Mr  Rowland  Hill,  as  I  directed,  in  order  that  I  may  hear 
the  reasons  of  both  about  this  universal  Penny  Postage 
plan,  which  appears  to  me  likely  to  remove  all  these  great 


254  POST-OFFICE. 

evils.'  After  the  interview  takes  place,  the  Queen  is  made 
to  record  the  opinion  that  the  plan  '  would  confer  a  great 
boon  on  the  poorer  classes  of  my  subjects,  and  would  be 
the  greatest  benefit  to  religion,  morals,  to  general  know- 
ledge, and  to  trade.'  This  jen  d'esprit,  which  was 
published  by  the  London  Committee,  was  circulated  by 
thousands,  and  proved  extremely  useful  in  bringing  the 
burning  question  home  in  an  attractive  form  to  the  masses 
of  the  nation. 

The  agitation  as  to  Rowland  Hill's  scheme  lasted  for 
two  years,  and  with  such  vehemence  that  the  period  has 
become  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  this  country.  The  end 
of  the  story  of  this  memorable  reform  is  soon  told  ;  for  an 
agitation  which  may  be  said  to  have  shaken  the  nation  to 
its  core  and  was  felt  from  end  to  end  of  the  kingdom 
could  have  but  one  conclusion,  and  that  a  successful  one. 
A  Parliamentary  Committee  was  appointed  to  inquire  into 
the  whole  matter;  and  after  a  session  of  sixty-three  days, 
reported  in  favour  of  Penny  Postage.  That  was  in 
August  1838.  Next  year  a  Bill  for  Cheap  Postage  passed 
through  parliament  with  slight  opposition ;  and  on  the 
1 2th  of  November  1839  the  Treasury  issued  a  Minute 
authorising  a  uniform  rate  of  fourpence  for  inland  letters. 
This  was,  however,  merely  a  temporary  measure,  in  which 
Rowland  Hill  concurred,  and  was  resorted  to  chiefly  to 
accustom  the  Post-office  clerks  to  a  uniform  rate  and  the 
system  of  charging  by  weight.  The  full  measure  of  the 
Penny  Postage  scheme  was  accomplished  a  few  months 
later  on,  when,  on  the  10th  of  January  1840,  the  uniform 
rate  of  One  Penny  for  letters  not  exceeding  half  an  ounce 
in  weight  was  officially  introduced. 

Such  in  brief  is  the  story  of  Penny  Postage,  which  has 
caused  such  a  revolution  not  only  in  the  postal  arrange- 
ments of  this  country,  but  in  the  conditions  of  all  sections 
and   grades  of  society.     In  the  first  year  of  its  operation 


ROWLAND    HILL    AND    PENNY    POSTAGE.  255 

the  number  of  letters  posted  was  more  than  doubled,  the 
number  sent  in  1840  being  169,000,000,  as  against 
82,000,000  posted  in  1839,  including  6,500,000  letters 
sent  under  the  franking  privilege,  which  was  abolished 
with  the  introduction  of  the  Penny  Postage  system.  In 
1 85 1  the  number  of  letters  posted  in  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland  had  risen  to  670,000,000;  while  in  1895 
the  quantity  sent  reached  the  fabulous  number  of  1771 
millions,  or  about  forty-five  letters  per  head  of  the  popu- 
lation. This  refers  to  letters  pure  and  simple.  If  we 
take  into  account  post-cards,  newspapers,  book-packets, 
&c,  the  aggregate  number  of  postal  packets  posted  in 
1895  w^  De  found  to  fall  not  far  short  of  1134  millions. 
Truly  may  it  be  said  that  the  results  of  Penny  Postage 
have  been  stupendous.  But  more  than  this ;  the  net 
revenue  derived  from  postage  has  long,  long  since  exceeded 
that  which  accrued  under  the  old  system. 

The  story  of  Penny  Postage  would  be  incomplete  if  we 
did  not  add  a  word  as  to  how  the  great  reformer  fared  at 
the  hands  of  his  country.  With  the  introduction  of  his 
scheme  he  of  course  became  associated  with  the  Post- 
office,  although  at  first  he  held  a  Treasury  appointment, 
from  which,  however,  after  about  three  years'  service,  he 
was  dismissed  on  the  ground  that  his  work  was  finished. 
Public  indignation  was  aroused  at  this  treatment  of  one 
who  had  already  done  so  much  for  his  country ;  and  the 
nation  seemed  to  think  that  the  right  place  for  Rowland 
Hill  was  at  the  Post-office,  where  further  useful  reforms 
might  well  be  expected  to  follow  from  one  who  had  begun 
so  well.  At  all  events,  in  1846  he  was  restored  to  office, 
being  appointed  Secretary  to  the  Postmaster-general,  and 
eight  years  later  he  became  Chief  Secretary  of  the  Post- 
office,  an  appointment  which  he  held  for  ten  years,  when, 
from  failing  health,  he  retired  with  full  pay  into  private 
life,  full  of  years  and  honours.     Soon  after  his  dismissal 


256  POST-OFFICE. 

from  the  Treasury,  a  grateful  country  subscribed  and  pre- 
sented him  with  the  sum  of  fifteen  thousand  pounds ;  and 
on  his  retirement,  parliament  voted  him  the  sum  of  twenty 
thousand  pounds.  In  i860  he  received  at  Her  Majesty's 
hands  the  dignity  of  Knight  Commander  of  the  Bath ;  and 
both  before  and  after  his  retirement  he  was  the  recipient 
of  many  minor  honours.  In  1879  Sir  Rowland  Hill  was 
presented  with  the  freedom  of  the  City  of  London  ;  but  he 
was  an  old  man  then,  and  only  lived  a  few  months  to 
enjoy  this  civic  honour.  He  had  a  public  funeral,  and 
was  accorded  a  niche  in  the  temple  of  fame  at  West- 
minster. 


A    VISIT    TO    THE    POST-OFFICE. 

Without  a  personal  visit  to  the  Post-office,  it  is  perhaps 
difficult  to  gain  any  correct  impression  of  its  immensity, 
or  of  the  perfect  discipline  and  order  which  prevade  the 
buildings  devoted  to  postal  and  telegraphic  work.  It 
is  a  visit  which  should  be  made  by  every  one  interested, 
if  possible.  They  would  then  marvel  that  we  get  our 
letters  and  papers  in  the  short  time  we  do,  if  they  were 
to  see  the  thousands  upon  thousands  that  are  poured 
into  St  Martin's-le-Grand  day  by  day.  The  General  Post- 
office  never  sleeps  save  on  Sunday  between  twelve  and 
half-past  one.     The  work  is  never  at  a  standstill. 

We  began  our  visit  to  St  Martin's-le-Grand  by  inspecting 
what  is  known  as  the  '  blind '  department,  where  letters 
with  indistinct,  incomplete,  and  wrongly  spelt  addresses 
are  puzzled  out  by  those  specially  trained  in  solving 
such  mysteries.  Scrap-books  are  kept  in  this  department, 
into  which  the  curious  and  amusing  addresses  originally 
inscribed  on  the  face  of  letters  transmitted  through  the  Post- 
office  are  copied  and  preserved.     Whilst  we  were  looking 


A   VISIT   TO    THE    POST-OFFICE.  257 

at  these  a  post-card  was  handed  in  to  one  of  the  officials 
merely  addressed  Jackson.  Whether  the  sender  thought 
it  would  go  around  to  the  various  Jacksons  in  London, 
we  know  not,  but  anyway  it  was  decided  to  take  the 
trouble  to  return  it  to  the  sender,  advising  him  that  it 
was  insufficiently  addressed.  The  trouble  careless  persons 
give  the  Post-office  is  inconceivable,  and  the  way  some 
try  to  cheat  in  the  manner  of  registering  letters  needs  to  be 
seen  to  be  believed. 

From  the  '  blind '  department  we  were  conducted  to  the 
1  hospital,'  where  badly  done  up  letters  and  parcels  which 
have  come  to  grief  are  doctored  and  made  sufficiently 
secure  to  reach  their  destination.  When  it  is  recollected 
that  postage  is  so  cheap,  the  outside  public  might  at  least 
take  the  trouble  to  do  up  letters  and  parcels  properly 
without  putting  the  Post-office  to  the  enormous  trouble 
thus  caused — needless  trouble  sustained  without  a  murmur 
and  without  extra  charge.  Some  are  put  into  fresh  en- 
velopes, others  are  sealing-waxed  where  slits  have  occurred, 
and  others  are  properly  tied  up  with  string.  All  this  trouble 
might  be  saved  by  a  little  forethought  on  the  part  of 
the  senders. 

The  number  of  samples  that  different  firms  send  through 
the  post  each  day  is  astonishing.  It  is  said  that  1,504,000 
pattern  and  sample  packets  are  posted  annually  in  the 
metropolis.  In  addition  to  those  just  mentioned,  alpaca, 
corduroy,  gloves,  ribbons,  plush,  whalebone,  muslin,  linen, 
biscuits,  oilcakes,  pepper,  yeast,  toilet  soap,  sperm  candles, 
mustard,  raisins,  &c,  are  sent  by  sample  post.  One  firm 
alone  posted  125,418  packets  containing  spice. 

The  time  to  visit  the  sorting  process  at  the  Post-office  is 
between  half-past  five  and  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening. 
At  closing  time  the  letters  are  simply  poured  by  thousands 
into  the  baskets  waiting  to  receive  them,  and  each  one  as 
soon  as  full  is  wheeled  off  in  an  instant  to  the  sorters  and 

Q 


258  POST-OFFICE. 

other  officials  waiting  to  deal  with  them.  When  they 
have  been  deposited  on  the  innumerable  tables,  the  first 
process  is  to  face  the  letters — not  so  easy  a  task  when 
the  shapes  and  sizes  of  the  letters  are  so  varied.  As 
soon  as  the  facing  process  is  over,  they  are  passed  as 
quick  as  lightning  on  to  the  stampers,  who  proceed  to 
deface  the  Queen's  head.  The  noise  whilst  this  process  is 
being  gone  through  is  deafening.  Some  stampers  have 
a  hand-machine,  whilst  others  are  making  a  trial  of  a 
treadle  stamping-machine  which  stamps  some  four  hundred 
letters  per  minute.  From  the  stampers  the  letters  pass  on 
to  the  sorters.  Whilst  all  this  is  proceeding,  the  visitor 
should  step  up  into  the  gallery  for  a  minute  or  two  and 
look  down  on  the  busy  scene  below.  It  is  a  sight  well 
worth  seeing  and  not  likely  to  be  forgotten — the  thousands 
of  letters  heaped  on  the  tables,  and  the  hundreds  of 
workers  as  hard  at  work  as  it  is  possible  for  them  to  be. 
The  envelopes  are  separated  and  placed  in  the  several 
pigeon-holes  which  indicate  the  various  directions  they 
are  to  travel.  Liverpool,  Manchester,  Birmingham,  Edin- 
burgh, and  Glasgow  have  special  receptacles  for  themselves, 
as  the  first  three  cities  have  on  an  average  fifteen  thousand 
letters  a  day  despatched  to  each ;  and  further,  there  are 
eight  despatches  a  day  to  these  places,  eleven  thousand 
per  day  go  to  Glasgow,  and  between  eight  and  nine 
thousand  to  Edinburgh.  All  official  letters — that  is,  '  On 
Her  Majesty's  Service ' — have  a  special  table  to  themselves. 
Some  eighty-nine  thousand  Savings-bank  books  pass 
through  St  Martin's-le-Grand  daily.  Some  sorters  get 
through  between  forty  and  fifty  letters  a  minute,  whilst 
a  new-comer  will  not  be  able  to  manage  more  than 
twenty  or  thirty. 

The  nights  on  which  various  mails  go  out  are  extra 
busy  ones,  especially  Friday  evening,  when  the  Indian, 
Chinese,  and  Australian  mails   are  sent.     The  reduction 


A   VISIT   TO    THE    POST-OFFICE.  259 

of  the  postage  has  made  an  enormous  difference  in  the 
contents  of  the  mail-bags  to  these  parts  of  the  world. 
It  may  be  interesting  here  to  note  how  the  mails  are 
dealt  with  at  Brindisi.  Van  after  van  conveys  the  mail- 
bags  from  the  train  to  the  ship,  where  two  gangways 
are  put  off  from  the  shore  to  the  ship's  side.  Lascars 
run  up  one  and  down  the  other  with  the  bags.  Each 
lascar  has  a  smooth  flat  stick  like  a  ruler,  and  as  he 
deposits  his  mail-bag  on  a  long  bench  over  the  hold, 
he  gives  up  his  stick  to  a  man  standing  by.  When 
five  lascars  have  arrived,  the  sticks  go  into  one  compart- 
ment of  a  small  wooden  box  ;  and  when  the  box  is  full — 
that  is,  when  a  hundred  have  been  put  in — the  box  is 
carried  off  and  another  brought  forward.  Three  hundred 
and  ninety-two  bags  is  a  good  average,  and  they  take 
just  under  forty  minutes  to  put  on  board.  The  French 
and  Italian  mails  are  included  in  these ;  but  no  other 
European  mails  go  by  the  Peninsular  and  Oriental 
Company.  At  Aden,  two  sorters  come  on  board  and 
spend  their  days  in  some  postal  cabins  sorting  the  mails 
for  the  different  parts  of  India,  &c.  The  bags  in  which 
these  mails  are  enclosed  are  only  used  once.  They 
are  made  in  one  of  our  convict  prisons,  and  fresh  ones 
are  distributed  each  week  both  outward  and  homeward. 

Turning  from  the  General  Post-office  South,  which  is 
now  exclusively  utilised  for  letters  and  papers,  we  proceed 
to  the  General  Post-office  North,  which  is  devoted  solely 
to  the  telegraph  department.  The  Savings-bank  depart- 
ment was  originally  in  the  same  building  as  the  telegraph  ; 
but  owing  to  the  rapid  increase  in  both  departments,  the 
Savings-bank  has  been  removed  to  Queen  Victoria  Street. 
Coldbath-Fields  Prison  was  converted  into  a  home  for  the 
Parcel  Post.  Some  three  thousand  male  and  female  clerks 
are  employed  in  the  telegraph  department  alone.  The 
top  floor  of  the  building  is  devoted  to  the  metropolitan 


260  POST-OFFICE. 

districts.  A  telegram  sent  from  one  suburb  of  London 
to  another  is  bound  to  pass  through  St  Martin's-le-Grand ; 
it  cannot  be  sent  direct.  The  second  floor  deals  with  the 
provinces.  The  pneumatic  tube  is  now  used  a  great  deal ; 
and  by  means  of  it  some  fifty  telegrams  can  be  sent  on  at 
once,  and  not  singly,  as  would  be  the  case  if  the  telegraphic 
instrument  was  the  only  instrument  in  use.  The  tube  is 
mostly  used  at  the  branch  offices. 

The  press  is  a  great  user  both  of  the  postal  and 
telegraphic  department.  In  the  postal  department  the 
representatives  can  call  for  letters  at  any  hour,  provided 
their  letters  are  enclosed  in  a  distinctive -coloured 
envelope,  such  as  bright  red  or  orange.  Of  course 
this  privilege  has  to  be  paid  for.  In  the  telegraph 
department  the  press  can  obtain  their  'private  wires' 
after  six  in  the  evening,  as  the  wires  are  no  longer 
required  for  commercial  purposes.  The  plan  adopted 
in  sending  the  same  message  to  every  provincial  town 
which  has  a  daily  journal  is  the  following :  all  along  the 
route  the  operators  are  advised  of  the  fact,  and  whilst 
the  message  is  only  actually  delivered  at  its  final  destination, 
the  words  are  caught  as  they  pass  each  town  by  means  of 
the  'sounder.'  By  this  ingenious  arrangement,  dozens  of 
towns  are  placed  in  direct  communication  with  the  central 
office  whence  the  message  is  despatched.  To  carry  on 
our  telegraphic  arrangements  three  miles  of  shelves  are 
needed,  on  which  are  deposited  forty  thousand  batteries. 


THE    POST-OFFICE    ON    WHEELS. 

The  particular  portion  of  the  '  Post-office  on  Wheels ' 
which  we  purpose  describing  is  the  Special  Mail  which 
leaves  London  from  Euston  Station  daily.  We  have  selected 
this  mail,  not  only  because  all  the  duties  appertaining  to 


THE    POST-OFFICE    ON    WHEELS.  26 1 

the  Travelling  Post-office  are  performed  therein,  but  also 
because  it  is  the  most  important  mail  in  the  United 
Kingdom,  probably  in  the  whole  world.  In  the  Special 
Mail,  the  post-office  vehicles  are  forty-two  feet  in  length, 
and  one  of  thirty-two  feet.  There  is  a  gangway  com- 
munication between  all  the  carriages,  so  that  the  officers 
on  duty  can  pass  from  one  to  another  throughout  the 
entire  length  without  going  outside.  All  the  carriages 
are  lighted  with  gas. 

The  pair-horse  vans  which  convey  the  London  bags 
for  provincial  towns  come  dashing  into  the  station  in 
rapid  succession,  and  as  there  are  only  fifteen  minutes 
before  the  train  starts,  no  time  is  to  be  lost.  The  bags 
are  quickly  removed  from  the  vans,  the  name  of  each 
being  called  out  in  the  process,  thus  enabling  an  officer 
who  stands  near  to  tick  them  off  on  a  printed  list  with 
which  he  is  provided.  They  are  then  stowed  away  in 
the  respective  carriages  in  appointed  places. 

Having  proceeded  to  the  principal  sorting  carriage, 
we  see  that  there  are  some  thousands  of  the  letters  which 
have  come  from  the  London  offices  still  to  be  disposed 
of.  They  lie  on  the  desks  in  large  bundles  ;  but  every 
minute  there  is  a  perceptible  diminution  of  their  numbers 
by  means  of  the  vigorous  attacks  of  the  men  engaged. 
From  end  to  end  of  one  side  of  the  carriage — that  farthest 
from  the  platform — rows  of  sorting-boxes,  or  '  pigeon-holes,' 
are  fixed  nearly  up  to  the  roof,  starting  from  the  sorting- 
table,  which  is  about  three  feet  from  the  floor.  The  boxes 
into  which  the  ordinary  letters  are  sorted  are  divided  into 
sets,  numbered  consecutively  from  i  to  45,  and  one  sorter 
works  at  each  set.  The  numbers  on  the  boxes  are  in 
accordance  with  a  prescribed  plan,  each  number  represent- 
ing the  names  of  certain  towns,  and  into  such  boxes  the 
letters  for  those  towns  are  sorted.  The  plan  mentioned 
is   carried  out  as  follows :  Suppose  we  say  that  No.   10 


262  POST-OFFICE. 

represents  Rugby,  of  course  when  the  mail-bag  for  that 
town  is  despatched  the  box  is  empty.  It  is  then  used, 
say,  for  Crewe,  and  when  the  bag  for  that  place  is  gone 
the  box  again  becomes  empty.  It  is  then  used  for 
some  other  town  farther  down  the  line,  and  so  on  to  the 
end  of  the  journey.  The  set  of  boxes  nearest  the  fore-end 
of  the  carriage  is  used  by  the  officer  who  deals  with  the 
registered  letters.  This  set  can  be  closed  by  means  of 
a  revolving  shutter,  which  is  fitted  with  a  lock  and  key ; 
so  that,  should  the  registered-letter  officer  have  to  quit 
his  post  for  any  purpose,  he  can  secure  the  contents  of 
his  boxes,  and  so  feel  satisfied  that  they  are  in  a  safe 
place.  This  officer  also  disposes  of  all  the  letter-bills 
on  which  the  addresses  of  the  registered  letters  are 
advised. 

The  set  of  boxes  into  which  the  newspapers  and  book 
packets  are  sorted  is  about  twice  the  size  of  an  ordinary 
letter  set,  and  occupies  the  centre  part  of  the  whole  box 
arrangement.  This  space  is  assigned  to  the  newspaper 
boxes  for  two  reasons :  the  set  is  exactly  opposite  the 
doorway  through  which  the  bags  are  taken  in  at  the 
stopping  station,  so  that  they  lie  on  the  floor  behind  the 
sorter  who  opens  them ;  he  has  therefore  simply  to  turn 
round  and  pick  them  up  one  by  one  as  he  requires 
them,  thereby  saving  both  time  and  labour.  Again,  as 
the  bags  are  opened,  the  bundles  of  letters  which  are 
labelled  No.  1  and  No.  2  respectively,  in  accordance  with 
the  list  supplied  to  postmasters  for  their  guidance,  have  to 
be  distributed  to  the  letter-sorters — No.  1  bundles  to  the 
left,  No.  2  to  the  right ;  and  this  distribution  could  not  be 
so  conveniently  performed  with  the  newspaper  or  bag-open- 
ing table  placed  in  a  different  position.  Most  of  the  news- 
paper boxes,  as  we  have  said,  are  about  twice  the  size  of  a 
letter  box ;  some,  however,  such  as  those  used  for  large 
towns  like  Liverpool,  Manchester,   Birmingham,  &c,  are 


THE   POST-OFFICE   ON    WHEELS.  263 

four  times  the  size;  and  the  necessity  for  this  can  be 
readily  understood. 

We  will  now  look  at  the  other  side  of  the  carriage — 
or  that  nearest  the  platform.  Along  the  whole  length 
of  that  side,  strong  iron  pegs  are  fixed  about  an  inch 
apart,  and  on  these  pegs  the  bags  to  be  made  up  and 
despatched  on  the  way  are  hung.  Most  of  the  bags 
used  in  the  Travelling  Post-office  are  of  one  size — three 
feet  six  inches  long,  and  two  feet  four  inches  wide  ;  but 
for  the  large  towns,  bags  of  greater  dimensions  are 
required.  Each  bag  is  distinctly  marked  on  both  sides 
with  the  name  of  the  town  to  which  it  is  to  be  forwarded, 
the  letters  forming  the  name  being  an  inch  and  a  quarter 
in  length.  The  name  is  also  stencilled  inside  the  mouth 
of  the  bag,  so  that  the  sorter  has  it  immediately  before  his 
eyes  when  putting  the  letters,  &c,  away.  On  reaching 
its  destination  the  bag  is  emptied  of  its  contents,  is 
turned  inside  out,  and  then  the  name  of  the  Travelling 
Post-office  from  which  it  was  received  appears  in  view. 
The  bag  is  then  folded  up  and  kept  ready  for  the  return 
despatch  on  the  following  night.  In  this  way  it  passes 
and  repasses  until  it  is  worn  out,  when  it  is  withdrawn, 
and  a  new  one  takes  its  place. 

We  will  now  assume  the  train  is  fairly  on  its  way,  and 
that  we  are  approaching  Harrow,  the  first  station  at  which 
the  mail-bags  are  received  by  means  of  the  apparatus. 
As  the  machinery  constituting  the  apparatus  is  of  great 
importance  in  the  system  of  working,  we  shall  here 
endeavour  to  describe  it. 

We  may  say  that  the  apparatus  in  the  Special  Mail  is 
worked  in  a  separate  carriage  which  runs  immediately 
behind  the  one  to  which  we  have  referred  in  the  preceding 
details.  A  large  and  very  strong  net  is  firmly  fixed  on 
the  side  of  the  carriage  on  the  near  end,  and  the  wood- 
work being  cut  away,  an  aperture  is  formed  through  which 


264  POST-OFFICE. 

the  pouches  containing  the  bags  are  taken  into  the  carriage. 
The  net  is  raised  or  lowered  by  pressing  down  a  lever 
very  similar  in  structure  and  appearance  to  the  levers 
which  are  seen  in  a  signalman's  cabin.  When  the  net  is 
lowered,  a  strong  rope  is  seen  to  stretch  across  from  the 
fore-part,  and  this  rope,  being  held  in  position  by  a 
chain  attached  to  the  back-part  of  the  net,  forms  what 
is  called  a  detaching  line  in  the  shape  of  the  letter 
V  placed  thus,  <  ;  and  as  the  carriage  travels  along,  the 
rope  at  the  point  forming  the  angle  strikes  the  suspended 
pouch,  and  detaches  it  from  the  standard,  when  it  falls 
into  the  net,  and  is  removed  by  the  officer  attending 
to  the  apparatus.  The  machinery  is  also  arranged  so 
that  a  bag  can  be  despatched  as  well  as  received.  A 
man  doing  this  work  should  possess  keen  eyes,  steady 
nerves,  and  a  full  average  amount  of  strength.  On  a 
dark  or  foggy  night  it  is  difficult  to  see  the  objects 
which  serve  as  guides  to  the  whereabouts  of  the  train,  and 
which  are  technically  known  in  the  office  as  '  marks.' 

The  net  is  now  lowered  for  the  receipt  at  Harrow. 
In  a  second  or  two,  a  tremendous  thud  is  heard,  and  a 
large  pouch  comes  crashing  into  the  carriage  through  the 
aperture,  the  men  meanwhile  keeping  a  respectful  distance. 
I  should  perhaps  explain  that  in  the  Special  Mail  a  new 
form  of  net  is  used.  The  bottom  of  it  is  flush  with  the 
carriage  floor,  and  as  the  lower  portion  is  constructed 
with  an  angle  of  about  forty-five  degrees,  the  pouches 
roll  into  the  carriage  by  their  own  weight 

We  will  now  see  what  the  pouch  from  Harrow  contains. 
It  is  quickly  unstrapped ;  the  bags  are  taken  out ;  and 
it  is  then  laid  aside,  to  be  used  for  despatch  at  a 
subsequent  station.  There  are  three  bags  for  the 
Travelling  Post-office  received  in  this  pouch — two  contain- 
ing correspondence  for  England  and  Scotland,  and  one 
for  Ireland.     The  bags  are  immediately  opened   by  the 


THE   POST-OFFICE   ON    WHEELS.  265 

proper  officers.  The  first  duty  is  to  find  the  letter-bill; 
and  if  there  are  any  registered  letters,  to  compare  them 
with  the  entries  on  the  bill,  when,  if  correct,  the  bill  is 
signed  and  passed  over,  together  with  the  registered 
letters,  to  the  officer  who  disposes  of  that  class  of 
correspondence,  and  by  whom  an  acknowledgment  of 
the  receipt  of  the  letters  is  at  once  given  to  the  bag-opener. 
It  is  in  this  way  that  a  hand-to-hand  check  is  established 
which  ensures  the  practical  safety  of  such  letters. 

The  bag-opener  then  proceeds  to  pick  out  from  amongst 
the  mass  of  correspondence  the  bundles  of  ordinary  letters, 
and  to  pass  them  to  the  right  or  left  according  as  they 
are  labelled  No.  i  or  No.  2.  These  bundles  are  cut  open 
by  the  respective  sorters  who  work  at  the  several  sets 
of  boxes,  the  letters  being  laid  in  a  row  on  the  desk, 
and  the  men  then  proceed  to  sort  them  in  accordance 
with  the  addresses  they  bear.  As  the  boxes  (each  of 
which  will  hold  about  one  hundred  and  fifty)  become 
full,  the  letters  are  tied  up  securely  in  bundles,  and  the 
sorters,  turning  round,  drop  them  into  the  bags  which  hang 
along  the  other  side  of  the  carriage.  And  so  the  work 
goes  on  in  the  same  way  throughout  the  entire  journey. 

Let  us  now  try  to  show  to  how  great  an  extent  the 
Travelling  Post-office  has  contributed  to  the  accelera- 
tion of  correspondence  from  place  to  place.  On  an 
examination  of  the  letters  received  from  Harrow,  it  is 
found  that  there  are  three  for  Aberdeen ;  and  a  similar 
number  for  that  city  will  be  received  from  the  several 
towns  between  London  and  Rugby,  and  so  on.  Of 
course,  the  number  of  letters  mentioned  would  not  be 
sufficient  for  a  direct  bag  between  each  of  these  places 
and  Aberdeen  ;  but  the  small  numbers  referred  to  being 
brought  together  in  the  Travelling  Post-office,  it  is 
found  that  when  the  train  arrives  at  Carlisle  a  sufficient 
amount   of   correspondence    for    the    northern    city   has 


266  POST-OFFICE. 

been  received  to  fill  a  large  bag.  This  bag  is  therefore 
closed  at  that  point,  and  a  fresh  one  hung  up,  to  contain 
the  correspondence  for  that  city  received  northwards  of 
Carlisle.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  other  large  towns 
in  Scotland.  Now,  if  there  were  no  Travelling  Post- 
office,  how  would  the  few  letters  for  Aberdeen  emanating 
from  the  various  towns  in  England  be  dealt  with?  In 
the  first  place,  they  would  have  to  be  picked  up  by 
a  stopping  train,  and  even  if  this  train  ran  direct  to 
Aberdeen,  there  would  be  a  difference  in  the  time  of 
arrival  of  at  least  eight  hours.  But  the  letters  could  not 
go  direct  in  such  a  case,  as  that  would  mean  the  making- 
up  of  separate  bags  at  each  place ;  and  we  have  already 
shown  that  the  letters  are  too  few  in  number  to  justify 
such  an  arrangement.  They  would  have  to  be  collected 
at  some  central  office,  say  at  Birmingham,  where  they 
would  of  necessity  be  detained  some  time ;  so  that 
altogether  it  is  probable  they  would  not  arrive  at  their 
destination  early  enough  to  be  delivered  on  the  day 
following  that  of  posting.  What,  however,  is  the  case 
now?  Thanks  to  the  Travelling  Post-office  with  its 
mail-bag  apparatus,  the  letters  are  whirled  along  at  close 
upon  fifty  miles  an  hour  without  intermission,  thus 
admitting  of  the  delivery  of  letters  from  London  at  so 
remote  a  place  as  Aberdeen  long  before  noon  on  the 
following  day. 

We  will  now  assume  that  the  train  has  arrived  at 
Rugby — the  distance  eighty-four  miles.  At  this  station 
mails  for  Coventry,  Birmingham,  &c,  are  left  to  be 
forwarded  by  a  branch  train.  After  a  stop  of  four 
minutes,  the  train  again  speeds  on  its  way,  the  next 
stopping-place  being  Tamworth.  Here  a  large  number 
of  mail-bags  are  despatched,  including  those  for  the 
Midland  Travelling  Post-office,  going  north  to  Newcastle- 
on-Tyne,    which   serves    Derbyshire,    Yorkshire,   and   the 


THE    POST-OFFICE    ON    WHEELS.  267 

whole  country-side  bordering  on  the  north-east  coast; 
for  the  Shrewsbury  mail-train,  which  serves  the  whole  of 
Mid- Wales ;  and  for  the  Lincoln  mail-train,  which  serves 
Nottinghamshire  and  Lincolnshire. 

The  next  halt  is  at  Crewe,  where  formerly  a  large 
exchange  of  bags  took  place,  having  been  passed  without 
stopping.  Crewe  is,  for  Travelling  Post-office  purposes,  by 
far  the  most  important  junction  in  the  kingdom.  Within 
three  hours — that  is,  between  half-past  eleven  at  night  and 
half-past  two  in  the  morning — over  a  dozen  mail-trains, 
each  with  sorting-carriages  attached,  arrive  and  depart; 
whilst  the  weight  of  mails  exchanged  here  within  the  hours 
mentioned  is  not  less  than  twenty  tons.  A  great  amount 
of  labour  is  involved  in  receiving  and  delivering  such  an 
immense  weight  of  bags,  the  work  being  all  done  by  hand, 
and  the  mail-porters  have  to  exercise  great  care  in  keeping 
them  in  proper  course  for  the  respective  trains.  Never- 
theless, these  responsible  duties  are  remarkably  well 
performed,  mistakes  very  rarely  occurring. 

The  Irish  mail  which  runs  from  London  to  Holyhead, 
and  in  which  correspondence  for  Ireland  is  almost  exclu- 
sively dealt  with,  branches  oft"  at  Crewe,  the  remainder  of 
the  journey  being  run  by  way  of  Chester  and  North  Wales. 

Leaving  Warrington,  the  next  stoppage  is  at  Wigan. 
Here  the  mails  for  Liverpool  are  despatched,  and  the 
receipt  includes  bags  which  have  been  brought  through  a 
long  line  of  country,  stretching  from  Newcastle-on-Tyne 
through  York,  Normanton,  and  Stalybridge,  and  thence  to 
Wigan.  The  mails  for  Preston  and  East  Lancashire  are 
left  at  Preston,  and,  running  through  Lancaster,  Carnforth 
is  soon  reached.  At  this  station  the  mails  for  North-west 
Lancashire  and  WTest  Cumberland  are  despatched,  and 
this  is  the  last  stopping-place  before  arriving  at  Carlisle, 
which  is  the  terminal  point  of  the  North  -  Western 
Railway. 


268  POST-OFFICE. 

Mention  should  be  made  of  the  noteworthy  despatch  of 
mails  by  apparatus  at  Oxenholme,  the  junction  for  Kendal, 
Windermere,  and  the  Lake  District.  It  is  the  largest 
despatch  by  that  method  in  the  kingdom,  as  many  as  nine 
pouches  being  delivered  into  two  nets.  Each  pouch  at 
this  station  weighs  on  an  average  fifty  pounds,  so  that 
altogether  four  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of  mail-matter 
is  despatched  at  this  one  station  —  no  inconsiderable 
feat. 

At  Carlisle  the  mails  for  the  Waverley  route  country  and 
for  the  whole  of  the  south-west  of  Scotland,  including  Ayr- 
shire, are  left.  There  is  another  long  run  over  the  Cale- 
donian Railway — about  seventy-eight  miles — without  a 
stop,  the  apparatus  being  worked  seven  times  in  that 
distance  until  Carstairs  is  reached.  Here,  one  of  the 
sorting-carriages  is  detached,  and  proceeds  to  Edinburgh ; 
and  a  few  miles  farther  on  three  more  are  detached,  and 
proceed  to  Glasgow  from  Holytown  Junction.  From  that 
point,  therefore,  only  two  sorting-carriages  remain  in  the 
train,  and  these  go  on  to  Aberdeen. 

The  next  stop  is  at  Stirling,  where  the  bags  for  the 
Western  Highlands  are  left ;  and  we  then  run  on  to  Perth. 

At  Perth,  the  mails  for  Dundee  and  the  northern  High- 
lands are  despatched,  the  latter  being  forwarded  by  a 
mail-train  which  runs  on  the  Highland  Railway  via 
Inverness.  Again  the  Special  Mail  starts  on  its  way,  there 
being  only  one  stop — at  Forfar — before  arriving  at  Aber- 
deen, where  the  journey  ends.  Here  the  last  bags  are 
despatched.  The  carriage  is  clear.  The  sorting-boxes 
are  carefully  searched,  to  see  that  no  letters  have  been  left 
in  them  ;  and  the  carriage  is  then  taken  charge  of  by  the 
railway  officials,  to  be  thoroughly  cleansed  and  made  ready 
for  the  return  journey  on  the  following  day.  The  duties 
on  the  way  to  London  are  performed  in  a  precisely 
similar  manner  to  those  on  the  journey  northwards. 


EARLY    TELEGRAPHS.  269 

EARLY     TELEGRAPHS. 

The  ancient  Greeks  and  Romans  practised  telegraphy 
with  the  help  of  pots  filled  with  straw  and  twigs  saturated 
in  oil,  which,  being  placed  in  rows,  expressed  certain 
letters  according  to  the  order  in  which  they  were  lighted  ; 
but  the  only  one  of  their  contrivances  that  merits  a  de- 
tailed description  was  that  invented  by  a  Grecian  general 
named  v-Eneas,  who  flourished  in  the  time  of  Aristotle, 
intended  for  communication  between  the  generals  of  an 
army.  It  consisted  of  two  exactly  similar  earthen  vessels, 
filled  with  water,  each  provided  with  a  cock  that  would 
discharge  an  equal  quantity  of  water  in  a  given  time,  so 
that  the  whole  or  any  part  of  the  contents  would  escape  in 
precisely  the  same  period  from  both  vessels.  On  the 
surface  of  each  floated  a  piece  of  cork  supporting  an 
upright,  marked  off  into  divisions,  each  division  having  a 
certain  sentence  inscribed  upon  it.  One  of  the  vessels 
was  placed  at  each  station  ;  and  when  either  party  desired 
to  communicate,  he  lighted  a  torch,  which  he  held  aloft 
until  the  other  did  the  same,  as  a  sign  that  he  was  all 
attention.  On  the  sender  of  the  message  lowering  or 
extinguishing  his  torch,  each  party  immediately  opened  the 
cock  of  his  vessel,  and  so  left  it  until  the  sender  relighted 
his  torch,  when  it  was  at  once  closed.  The  receiver  then 
read  the  sentence  on  the  division  of  the  upright  that  was 
level  with  the  mouth  of  the  vessel,  and  which,  if  everything 
had  been  executed  with  exactness,  corresponded  with  that 
of  the  sender,  and  so  conveyed  the  desired  intimation. 

We  must  here  pause  a  moment  to  point  out  one  great 
advantage  that  this  contrivance,  simple  as  it  undoubtedly 
was,  will  be  seen  to  possess  over  the  more  scientific  ones 
that  follow,  and  that  was,  its  equal  efficacy  in  any  sort  of 
country  and  in  any  position,  whether  on  a  plain,  on  the 
summit  of  a  hill,  or  in  a  sequestered  valley. 


270  TELEGRAPH. 

To  descend  to  more  modern  times.  Kessler  in  his 
Cojicealed  Arts  advised  the  cutting  out  of  characters  in  the 
bottom  of  casks,  which  would  appear  luminous  when  a 
light  was  placed  inside.  In  the  Spectator  of  December  6, 
171 1,  there  is  an  extract  from  Strada,  an  Italian  historian, 
who  published  his  Prolusiones  Academics  in  161 7.  In  the 
passage  referred  to,  the  modern  system  of  telegraphy  is 
curiously  indicated.  It  is  as  follows :  '  Strada,  in  one  of 
his  Prolusions,  gives  an  account  of  a  chimerical  correspond- 
ence between  two  friends  by  the  help  of  a  certain 
loadstone,  which  had  such  virtue  in  it,  that  if  it  touched 
two  several  needles,  when  one  of  the  needles  so  touched 
began  to  move,  the  other,  though  at  never  so  great  a 
distance,  moved  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same  manner. 
He  tells  us  that  the  two  friends,  being  each  of  them 
possessed  of  one  of  these  needles,  made  a  kind  of  dial- 
plate,  inscribing  it  with  the  four-and-twenty  letters,  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  hours  of  the  day  are  marked  upon  the 
ordinary  dial-plate.  They  then  fixed  one  of  the  needles 
on  each  of  these  plates  in  such  a  manner  that  it  could 
move  round  without  impediment  so  as  to  touch  any  of  the 
four-and-twenty  letters.  Upon  their  separating  from  one 
another  into  distant  countries,  they  agreed  to  withdraw 
themselves  punctually  into  their  closets  at  a  certain  hour 
of  the  day,  and  to  converse  with  one  another  by  means  of 
this  their  invention.  Accordingly,  when  they  were  some 
hundred  miles  asunder,  each  of  them  shut  himself  up  in 
his  closet  at  the  time  appointed,  and  immediately  cast  his 
eye  upon  his  dial-plate.  If  he  had  a  mind  to  write  any- 
thing to  his  friend,  he  directed  his  needle  to  every  letter 
that  formed  the  words  which  he  had  occasion  for,  making 
a  little  pause  at  the  end  of  every  word  or  sentence,  to 
avoid  confusion.  The  friend,  in  the  meanwhile,  saw  his 
own  sympathetic  needle  moving  of  itself  to  every  letter 
which    that    of    his    correspondent    pointed    at.     By    this 


EARLY   TELEGRAPHS.  27  I 

means  they  talked  together  across  a  whole  continent,  and 
conveyed  their  thoughts  to  one  another  in  an  instant  over 
cities  or  mountains,  seas  or  deserts. 

It  was  not  till  near  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century 
that  a  really  practical  system  of  visual  signalling  from  hill 
to  hill  was  introduced  by  Dr  Hooke,  whose  attention  had 
been  turned  to  the  subject  at  the  siege  of  Vienna  by  the 
Turks.  He  erected  on  the  top  of  several  hills  having  a 
sky-line  background  three  high  poles  or  masts,  connected 
at  their  upper  ends  by  a  cross-piece.  The  space  between 
two  of  these  poles  was  filled  in  with  timbers  to  form  a 
screen,  behind  which  the  various  letters  were  hung  in 
order  on  lines,  and,  by  means  of  pulleys,  run  out  into  the 
clear  space  between  the  other  two,  when  they  stood  out 
clear  against  the  sky-line.  The  letters  were  thus  run  out 
and  back  again  in  the  required  order  of  spelling,  and  were 
divided  into  day  and  night  letters — the  former  being  made 
of  deals,  the  latter  with  the  addition  of  links  or  lights ; 
besides  which  there  were  certain  conventional  characters 
to  represent  such  sentences  as,  '  I  am  ready  to  com- 
municate,' '  I  am  ready  to  receive.'  In  his  description  of 
the  device,  read  before  the  Royal  Society  on  the  21st  of 
May  1684,  Dr  Hooke,  after  claiming  for  it  the  power  of 
transmitting  messages  to  a  station  thirty  or  forty  miles 
distant,  said  :  '  For  the  performance  of  this  we  must  be 
beholden  to  a  late  invention,  which  we  do  not  find  any  of 
the  ancients  knew ;  that  is,  the  eye  must  be  assisted  with 
telescopes,  that  whatever  characters  are  exposed  at  one 
station  may  be  made  plain  and  distinguishable  at  the 
other.'  A  cipher  code  was  subsequently  added  by  an 
ingenious  Frenchman  named  Amontons. 

In  1767  we  find  Mr  Richard  L.  Edgeworth,  the  father 
of  Maria  Edgeworth,  employing  the  sails  of  a  common 
windmill  for  communicating  intelligence,  by  an  arranged 
system  of  signals  according  to  the  different  positions  of  the 


272  TELEGRAPH. 

arms.  The  signals  were  made  to  denote  numbers,  the 
corresponding  parties  being  each  provided  with  a  dictionary 
in  which  the  words  were  numbered — the  system  in  vogue 
for  our  army-signalling  till  187 1,  when  the  Morse  alphabet 
was  substituted  for  it. 

A  great  stride  was  made  in  1793  by  M.  Chappe,  a 
citizen  of  Paris,  when  the  French  Revolution  directed  all 
the  energies  of  that  nation  to  the  improvement  of  the  art 
of  war ;  reporting  on  whose  machine  to  the  French  Con- 
vention in  August  of  the  following  year,  Barere  remarked  : 
'  By  this  invention,  remoteness  and  distance  almost  dis- 
appear, and  all  the  communications  of  correspondence  are 
effected  with  the  rapidity  of  the  twinkling  of  an  eye.'  It 
consisted  of  a  strong  wooden  mast  some  twenty-five  feet 
high,  with  a  cross-beam  twelve  feet  by  nine  inches  jointed 
on  to  its  top,  so  as  to  be  movable  about  its  centre  like  a 
scale-beam,  and  could  thus  be  placed  horizontally,  verti- 
cally, or  anyhow  inclined  by  means  of  cords.  To  each 
end  of  this  cross-beam  was  affixed  a  short  vertical  indicator 
about  four  feet  long,  which  likewise  turned  on  pivots  by 
means  of  cords,  and  to  the  end  of  each  was  attached  a 
counterweight,  almost  invisible  at  a  distance,  to  balance 
the  weight  of  it.  This  machine  could  be  made  to  assume 
certain  positions  which  represented  or  were  symbolical  of 
letters  of  the  alphabet.  In  working,  nothing  depended  on 
the  operator's  manual  skill,  as  the  movements  were  regu- 
lated mechanically.  The  time  taken  up  for  each  move- 
ment was  twenty  seconds,  of  which  the  actual  motion 
occupied  four ;  during  the  other  sixteen,  the  telegraph  was 
kept  stationary,  to  allow  of  its  being  distinctly  observed 
and  the  letter  written  down  by  those  at  the  next  station. 
All  the  parts  were  painted  dark  brown,  that  they  might 
stand  out  well  against  the  sky;  and  three  persons  were 
required  at  each  station,  one  to  manipulate  the  machine, 
another  to  read  the  messages  through  a  telescope,  and  the 


EARLY    TELEGRAPHS.  273 

third  to  transfer  them  to  paper,  or  repeat  them  to  No.  i  to 
send  on.  The  first  machine  of  this  kind  was  erected  on 
the  roof  of  the  Paris  Louvre,  to  communicate  with  the 
army  which  was  then  stationed  near  Lille,  between  which 
places  intermediate  ones  from  nine  to  twelve  miles  apart 
were  erected,  the  second  being  at  Montmartre.  The 
different  limbs  were  furnished  with  argand  lamps  for 
night-work. 

Shortly  after  this,  our  own  government  set  up  lines  of 
communication  from  the  Admiralty  to  Deal,  Portsmouth, 
and  other  points  on  the  coast,  which  we  find  thus  reported 
in  the  Annual  Register  for  1796  : 

March  28th.  'A  telegraph  was  this  day  erected  over 
the  Admiralty,  which  is  to  be  the  point  of  communication 
with  all  the  different  sea-ports  in  the  kingdom.  The 
nearest  telegraph  to  London  has  hitherto  been  in  St 
George's  Fields  ;  and  to  such  perfection  has  this  ingenious 
and  useful  contrivance  been  already  brought,  that  one  day 
last  week  information  was  conveyed  from  Dover  to  London 
in  the  space  of  only  seven  minutes.  The  plan  proposed 
to  be  adopted  in  respect  to  telegraphs  is  yet  only  carried 
into  effect  between  London  and  Dover;  but  it  is  intended 
to  extend  all  over  the  kingdom.  The  importance  of  this 
speedy  communication  must  be  evident  to  every  one ;  and 
it  has  this  advantage,  that  the  information  conveyed  is 
known  only  to  the  person  who  sends  and  to  him  who 
receives  it.  The  intermediate  posts  have  only  to  answer 
and  convey  the  signals.' 

The  machines  used  consisted  of  three  masts  connected 
by  a  top-piece.  The  spaces  between  the  masts  were 
divided  into  three  horizontally,  and  in  each  partition  a 
large  wooden  octagon  was  fixed,  poised  upon  a  horizontal 
axis  across  its  centre,  so  that  it  could  be  made  to  present 
either  its  surface  or  its  edge  to  the  observer.  The  octa- 
gons were  turned  by  means  of  cranks  upon  the  ends  of 


274  TELEGRAPH. 

the  axles,  from  which  cords  descended  into  a  cabin  below. 
By  the  changes  in  the  position  of  these  six  octagonal 
boards,  thirty-six  changes  were  easily  exhibited,  and  the 
signal  to  represent  any  letter  or  number  made  :  thus,  one 
board  being  turned  into  a  horizontal  position  so  as  to 
expose  its  edge,  while  the  other  five  remained  shut  or  in  a 
vertical  position,  might  stand  for  A,  two  of  them  only  in  a 
horizontal  position  for  B,  three  for  C,  and  so  on.  It  was, 
however,  found  that  the  octagons  were  less  evident  to  the 
eye  at  a  distance  than  the  indicators  of  Chappe's  machine, 
requiring  the  stations  to  be  closer  together;  nor  could 
this  telegraph  be  made  to  change  its  direction,  so  that 
it  could  only  be  seen  from  one  particular  point,  which 
necessitated  having  a  separate  machine  at  the  Admiralty 
for  each  line,  as  well  as  an  additional  one  at  every  branch- 
point. It  was,  moreover,  too  bulky  and  of  a  form  un- 
suitable for  illumination  at  night. 

Here  we  may  notice  that  in  1801  Mr  John  Boaz  of 
Glasgow  obtained  a  patent  for  a  telegraph  which  effected 
the  signal  by  means  of  twenty-five  lamps  arranged  in  five 
rows  of  five  each,  so  as  to  form  a  square.  Each  lamp  was 
provided  with  a  blind,  with  which  its  light  could  be 
obscured,  so  that  they  could  be  made  to  exhibit  letters  and 
figures  by  leaving  such  lamps  only  visible  as  were  neces- 
sary to  form  the  character. 

The  next  improvement  again  came  from  France,  in 
1806,  when  an  entirely  new  set  of  telegraphs  on  the 
following  principle  was  established  along  the  whole  extent 
of  the  coast  of  the  French  empire.  A  single  upright  pole 
was  provided  with  three  arms,  each  movable  about  an 
axis  at  one  end — one  near  the  head,  the  other  two  at 
points  lower  down,  all  painted  black,  with  their  counter- 
poises white,  so  as  to  be  invisible  a  short  way  off.  Each 
arm  could  assume  six  different  positions — one  straight  out 
on  either  side  of  the  pole,  two  at  an  angle  of  forty-five 


EARLY    TELEGRAPHS.  275 

degrees  above  this  line,  and  two  at  forty-five  degrees  below 
it.  The  arm  near  the  head  could  be  made  to  exhibit 
seven  positions,  the  seventh  being  the  vertical ;  but  as  this 
might  have  been  mistaken  for  part  of  the  pole,  it  was  not 
employed.  The  number  of  combinations  or  different 
signals  that  could  be  rendered  by  this  machine,  employing 
only  three  objects,  was  consequently  three  hundred  and 
forty-two  against  sixty-three  by  that  of  our  Admiralty  just 
described,  and  which  employed  six  objects. 

It  was  not  long,  however,  before  we  copied  the  advance- 
ment of  our  neighbours  across  the  Channel,  and  in  some 
respects  improved  upon  it,  the  main  differences  being  that 
only  two  arms  were  employed — one  at  the  top,  the  other 
half-way  down,  and  that  the  mast  was  made  to  revolve  on 
a  vertical  axis,  so  that  the  arms  could  be  rendered  visible 
from  any  desired  quarter.  Its  mechanism,  the  invention 
of  Sir  Home  Popham,  enabled  the  arms  to  be  moved  by 
means  of  endless  screws  worked  by  iron  spindles  from 
below,  a  vast  improvement  on  the  old  cords,  the  more  so 
as  they  worked  inside  the  mast,  which  was  hollow, 
hexagonal  in  section,  and  framed  of  six  boards  bound 
together  by  iron  hoops,  and  were  thus  protected  from  the 
weather.  Inside  the  cabin  he  erected  two  dials,  one  for 
each  arm,  each  having  an  index  finger  that  worked 
simultaneously  with  its  corresponding  arm  above,  on  the 
same  principle  as  the  little  semaphore  models  to  be  seen 
nowadays  in  our  railway  signal  cabins. 

We  have  now  described  the  most  prominent  of  the 
numerous  contrivances  which,  prior  to  the  application  of 
electricity  to  that  end,  were  devised  and  made  use  of  for 
telegraphic  communication,  all  of  which,  unlike  that  subtle 
power  that  is  not  afraid  of  the  dark  and  can  travel  in  all 
weathers,  possessed  a  common  weakness  in  their  liability 
to  failure  through  atmospheric  causes,  fog,  mist,  and  haze. 
To  us  who  live  in  this  age  of  electrical  marvels,  when  that 


276  TELEGRAPH. 

particular  science  more  than  all  others  progresses  by  leaps 
and  bounds,  it  appears  passing  strange  and  almost  in- 
credible that  so  many  years  were  allowed  to  elapse  before 
the  parents  of  the  electric  telegraph,  the  electrical  machine 
and  magnetic  compass,  were  joined  in  wedlock  to  produce 
their  amazing  progeny,  which  now  enables  all  mankind, 
however  distant,  to  hold  rapid,  soft,  and  easy  converse. 


THE   TELEGRAPH    OF   TO-DAY. 

A  veil  of  mystery  still  hangs  around  the  first  plan  for  an 
electric  telegraph,  communicated  to  the  Scots  Magazine 
for  1753  by  one  '  C.  M.'  of  Renfrew.  Even  the  name  of 
this  obscure  and  modest  genius  is  doubtful;  but  it  is 
probable  that  he  was  Charles  Morrison,  a  native  of 
Greenock,  who  was  trained  as  a  surgeon.  At  this  period 
only  the  electricity  developed  by  friction  was  available  for 
the  purpose,  and  being  of  a  refractory  nature,  there  was  no 
practical  result. 

But  after  Volta  had  invented  the  chemical  generator  or 
voltaic  pile  in  the  first  year  of  our  century,  and  Oersted,  in 
1820,  had  discovered  the  influence  of  the  electric  current 
on  a  magnetic  needle,  the  illustrious  Laplace  suggested  to 
Ampere,  the  famous  electrician,  that  a  working  telegraph 
might  be  produced  if  currents  were  conveyed  to  a  distance 
by  wires,  and  made  to  deflect  magnetic  needles,  one  for 
every  letter  of  the  alphabet.  This  was  in  the  year  1820; 
but  it  was  not  until  sixteen  years  later  that  the  idea  was 
put  in  practice.  In  1836  Mr  William  Fothergill  Cooke, 
an  officer  of  the  Madras  army,  at  home  on  furlough,  was 
travelling  in  Germany,  and  chanced  to  see  at  the  university 
of  Heidelberg,  in  the  early  part  of  March,  an  experimental 
telegraph,  fitted  up  between  the  study  and  the  lecture 
theatre  of  the  Professor  of  Natural   Philosophy.     It  was 


THE    TELEGRAPH    OF    TO-DAY.  277 

based  on  the  principle  of  Laplace  and  Ampere,  and 
consisted  of  two  electric  circuits  and  a  pair  of  magnetic 
needles  which  responded  to  the  interruptions  of  the 
current.  Mr  Cooke  was  struck  with  this  device ;  but  it 
was  only  during  his  journey  from  Heidelberg  to  Frankfort 
on  the  17th  of  the  month,  while  reading  Mrs  Mary  Somer- 
ville's  book  on  the  Correlation  of  the  Physical  Sciences,  that 
the  notion  of  his  practical  telegraph  flashed  upon  his  mind. 
Sanguine  of  success,  he  abandoned  his  earlier  pursuits  and 
devoted  all  his  energies  to  realise  his  invention. 

The  following  year  he  associated  himself  with  Professor 
Wheatstone ;  a  joint  patent  was  procured  ;  and  the  Cooke 
and  Wheatstone  needle  telegraph  was  erected  between  the 
Euston  Square  and  Camden  Town  stations  of  the  London 
and  Birmingham  Railway.  To  test  the  working  of  the 
instruments  through  a  longer  distance,  several  miles  of 
wire  were  suspended  in  the  carriage-shed  at  Euston,  and 
included  in  the  circuit.  All  being  ready,  the  trial  was 
made  on  the  evening  of  the  25th  of  July  1837,  a  memor- 
able date.  Some  friends  of  the  inventors  were  present, 
including  Mr  George  Stephenson  and  Mr  Isambard  Brunei, 
the  celebrated  engineers.  Mr  Cooke,  with  these,  was 
stationed  at  Camden  Town,  and  Mr  Wheatstone  at  Euston 
Square.  The  latter  struck  the  key  and  signalled  the  first 
message.  Instantly  the  answer  came  on  the  vibrating 
needles,  and  their  hopes  were  realised.  'Never,'  said 
Professor  Wheatstone — '  never  did  I  feel  such  a  tumultuous 
sensation  before,  as  when,  all  alone  in  the  still  room, 
I  heard  the  needles  click ;  and  as  I  spelled  the  words  I 
felt  all  the  magnitude  of  the  invention,  now  proved  to  be 
practical  beyond  cavil  or  dispute.' 

It  was  in  1832,  during  a  voyage  from  Havre  to  New 
York  in  the  packet  Sully,  that  Mr  S.  F.  B.  Morse,  then  an 
artist,  conceived  the  idea  of  the  electro-magnetic  marking 
telegraph,  and  drew  a  design   for  it  in  his   sketch-book. 


278  TELEGRAPH. 

But  it  was  not  until  the  beginning  of  1838  that  he  and  his 
colleague,  Mr  Alfred  Vail,  succeeded  in  getting  the 
apparatus  to  work.  Judge  Vail,  the  father  of  Alfred,  and 
proprietor  of  the  Speedwell  ironworks,  had  found  the 
money  for  the  experiments;  but  as  time  went  on- and  no 
result  was  achieved,  he  became  disheartened,  and  perhaps 
annoyed  at  the  sarcasms  of  his  neighbours,  so  that  the 
inventors  were  afraid  to  meet  him.  '  I  recall  vividly,'  says 
Mr  Baxter,  '  even  after  the  lapse  of  so  many  years,  the 
proud  moment  when  Alfred  said  to  me,  "  William,  go  up  to 
the  house  and  invite  father  to  come  down  and  see  the 
telegraph-machine  work."  I  did  not  stop  to  don  my  coat, 
although  it  was  the  6th  of  January,  but  ran  in  my  shop- 
clothes  as  fast  as  I  possibly  could.  It  was  just  after 
dinner  when  I  knocked  at  the  door  of  the  house,  and  was 
ushered  into  the  sitting-room.  The  judge  had  on  his 
broad-brimmed  hat  and  surtout,  as  if  prepared  to  go  out ; 
but  he  sat  before  the  fireplace,  leaning  his  head  on  his 
cane,  apparently  in  deep  meditation.  As  I  entered  his 
room  he  looked  up  and  said,  "Well,  William?"  and  I 
answered  :  "  Mr  Alfred  and  Mr  Morse  sent  me  to  invite 
you  to  come  down  to  the  room  and  see  the  telegraph- 
machine  work."  He  started  up,  as  if  the  importance  of 
the  message  impressed  him  deeply ;  and  in  a  few  minutes 
we  were  standing  in  the  experimental  room.  After  a  short 
explanation,  he  called  for  a  piece  of  paper,  and  writing 
upon  it  the  words,  "A  patient  waiter  is  no  loser,"  he 
handed  it  to  Alfred,  saying,  "  If  you  can  send  this,  and  Mr 
Morse  can  read  it  at  the  other  end,  I  shall  be  convinced." 
The  message  was  received  by  Morse  at  the  other  end,  and 
handed  to  the  judge,  who,  at  this  unexpected  triumph,  was 
overcome  by  his  emotions.'  The  practical  value  of  the 
invention  was  soon  realised;  by  1840  telegraph  lines  were 
being  made  in  civilised  countries,  and  ere  long  extended 
into  the  network  of  lines  which  now  encircle  the  globe  and 


ATLANTIC    CABLES.  279 

bring    the    remotest    ends    of   the    earth    into    direct   and 
immediate  communication. 


ATLANTIC    CABLES. 


A  year  or  two  before  the  first  attempt  to  lay  an  Atlantic 
cable,  there  were  only  eighty-seven  nautical  miles  of  sub- 
marine cables  laid ;  now,  the  total  length  of  these  wonderful 
message-carriers  under  the  waves  is  over  160,500  English 
statute  miles.  There  are  now  fourteen  cables  crossing  the 
Atlantic,  which  are  owned  by  six  different  companies. 

The  charter  which  Mr  Cyrus  VV.  Field  obtained  for  the 
New  York,  Newfoundland,  and  London  Telegraph  Com- 
pany was  granted  in  the  year  1854.  It  constructed  the 
land -line  telegraph  in  Newfoundland,  and  laid  a  cable 
across  the  Gulf  of  St  Lawrence ;  but  this  was  only  the 
commencement  of  the  work.  Soundings  of  the  sea  were 
needed ;  electricians  had  to  devise  forms  of  cable  most 
suitable ;  engineers  to  consider  the  methods  of  carrying 
and  of  laying  the  cable ;  and  capitalists  had  to  be  con- 
vinced that  the  scheme  was  practicable,  and  likely  to  be 
remunerative ;  whilst  governments  were  appealed  to  for 
aid.  Great  Britain  readily  promised  aid ;  but  the  United 
States  Senate  passed  the  needful  Bill  by  a  majority 
of  one. 

•  But  when  the  first  Atlantic  cable  expedition  left  the 
coast  of  Kerry,  it  was  a  stately  squadron  of  British  and 
American  ships  of  war,  such  as  the  Niagara  and  the 
Agamemnon,  and  of  merchant  steamships.  The  Lord- 
lieutenant  of  Ireland,  Directors  of  the  Atlantic  Telegraph 
Company,  and  of  British  railways,  were  there,  with  repre- 
sentatives of  several  nations ;  and  when  the  shore-end  had 
been  landed  at  Valentia,  the  expedition  left  the  Irish  coast 
in  August  1857.     When  335  miles  of  the  cable  had  been 


280  TELEGRAPH. 

laid,  it  parted,  and  high  hopes  were  buried  many  fathoms 
below  the  surface. 

The  first  expedition  of  1858  also  failed ;  the  second  one 
was  successful;  and  on  the  16th  of  August  in  that  year, 
Queen  Victoria  congratulated  the  President  of  the  United 
States  '  upon  the  successful  completion  of  this  great  inter- 
national work  ; '  and  President  Buchanan  replied,  trusting 
that  the  telegraph  might  '  prove  to  be  a  bond  of  perpetual 
peace  and  friendship  between  the  kindred  nations.'  But 
after  a  few  weeks'  work,  the  cable  gave  its  last  throb,  and 
was  silent. 

Not  until  1865  was  another  attempt  made,  and  then  the 
cable  was  broken  after  1200  miles  had  been  successfully 
laid.  Then,  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr  (afterwards  Sir) 
Daniel  Gooch,  the  Anglo-American  Telegraph  Company 
was  formed  ;  and  on  13th  July  1866  another  expedition  left 
Ireland  ;  and  towards  the  end  of  the  month,  the  Great 
Eastern  glided  calmly  into  Heart's  Content,  '  dropping  her 
anchor  in  front  of  the  telegraph  house,  having  trailed 
behind  her  a  chain  of  two  thousand  miles,  to  bind  the  Old 
World  to  the  New.' 

But  the  success  of  the  year  was  more  than  the  mere 
laying  of  a  cable  :  the  Great  Eastern  was  able,  in  the 
words  of  the  late  Lord  Iddesleigh,  to  complete  the  '  laying 
of  the  cable  of  1866,  and  the  recovering  that  of  1865.' 
The  Queen  conferred  the  honour  of  knighthood  on 
Captain  Anderson,  on  Professor  Thomson,  and  on  Messrs 
Glass  and  Channing;  whilst  Mr  Gooch,  M.P.,  was  made  a 
baronet.  The  charge  for  a  limited  message  was  then 
twenty  pounds ;  and  it  was  not  long  before  a  rival  com- 
pany was  begun,  to  share  in  the  rich  harvest  looked  for; 
and  thus  another  cable  was  laid,  leading  ultimately  to  an 
amalgamation  between  its  ordinary  company  and  the 
original  Anglo-American  Telegraph  Company. 

Then,  shortly  afterwards,  the  Direct  United  States  Cable 


282  TELEGRAPH. 

Company  came  into  being,  and  laid  a  cable ;  a  French 
company  followed  suit ;  the  great  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company  of  America  entered  into  the  Atlantic  trade,  and 
had  two  cables  constructed  and  laid.  The  commencement 
of  ocean  telegraphy  by  each  of  these  companies  led  to  com- 
petition, and  reduced  rates  for  a  time  with  the  original 
company,  ending  in  what  is  known  as  a  pool  or  joint  purse 
agreement,  under  which  the  total  receipts  were  divided 
in  allotted  proportions  to  the  companies.  These  com- 
panies have  now  eight  cables  usually  operative ;  and  it 
was  stated  by  Sir  J.  Pender  that  these  eight  cables  'are 
capable  of  carrying  over  forty  million  words  per  annum.' 

In  addition  to  the  cables  of  the  associated  companies, 
the  Commercial  Cable  Company  own  two  modern  cables ; 
and  one  of  the  two  additional  ones  was  laid  by  this  com- 
pany—  the  other  by  the  original  —  the  Anglo-American 
Company.  But  the  work  is  simple  now  to  what  it  was 
thirty  years  ago.  Then,  there  were  only  one  or  two 
cable-ships ;  now,  Mr  Preece  enumerates  thirty-seven,  of 
which  five  belong  to  the  greatest  of  our  telegraph  com- 
panies, the  Eastern.  The  authority  we  have  just  named 
says  that  '  the  form  of  cable  has  practically  remained 
unaltered  since  the  original  Calais  cable  was  laid  in  1851;' 
its  weight  has  been  increased ;  and  there  have  been 
additions  to  it  to  enable  it  to  resist  insidious  submarine 
enemies.  The  gear  of  the  steamships  used  in  the  service 
has  been  improved;  whilst  the  '  picking-up  gear'  of  one  of 
the  best  known  of  these  cable-ships  is  '  capable  of  lifting 
thirty  tons  at  a  speed  of  one  knot  per  hour.'  And  there 
has  been  a  wide  knowledge  gained  of  the  ocean,  its  depth, 
its  mountains,  and  its  valleys,  so  that  the  task  of  cable- 
laying  is  much  more  of  an  exact  science  than  it  was. 
When  the  first  attempt  was  made  to  lay  an  Atlantic  cable, 
'the  manufacture  of  sea-cables'  had  been  only  recently 
begun;  now,   140,000  knots  are  at  work  in  the  sea,  and 


THE    STATE    AND   THE   TELEGRAPHS.  283 

yearly  the  area  is  being  enlarged.  When,  in  1856,  Mr 
Thackeray  subscribed  to  the  Atlantic  Telegraph  Company, 
its  share  capital  was  ^350,000 — that  being  the  estimated 
cost  of  the  cable  between  Newfoundland  and  Ireland ; 
now,  five  companies  have  a  capital  of  over  ^12,500,000 
invested  in  the  Atlantic  telegraph  trade.  The  largest 
portion  of  the  capital  is  that  of  the  Anglo-American 
Telegraph  Company,  which  has  a  capital  of  ^7,000,000, 
and  which  represents  the  Atlantic  Telegraph  Company,  the 
New  York,  and  Newfoundland,  and  the  French  Atlantic 
Companies  of  old. 

Though  the  traffic  fluctuates  greatly,  in  some  degree 
according  to  the  charge  per  word  (for  in  one  year  of 
lowest  charges  the  number  of  words  carried  by  the 
associated  companies  increased  by  133  per  cent.,  whilst 
the  receipts  decreased  about  49  per  cent),  yet  it  does  not 
occupy  fully  the  carrying  capacity  of  the  cables.  But  their 
'life 'and  service  is  finite,  and  thus  it  becomes  needful 
from  time  to  time  to  renew  these  great  and  costly  carriers 
under  the  Atlantic. 


THE  STATE  AND  THE  TELEGRAPHS. 

Since  the  telegraphs  of  the  United  Kingdom  passed  into 
the  hands  of  the  State,  the  changes  which  have  taken 
place  during  that  period  in  the  volume  of  the  business 
transacted,  the  rapidity  in  the  transit  of  messages,  and 
the  charges  made  for  sending  telegrams,  are  little  short 
of  marvellous.  It  was  in  the  year  1852  that  the  acquisi- 
tion of  the  telegraph  system  by  the  State  was  first  sug- 
gested, but  not  until  late  in  the  year  1867,  when  Mr 
Disraeli  was  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  did  the  govern- 
ment definitely  determine  to  take  the  matter  up.  At  that 
time,  as  Mr  Baines,  C.B.,  tells  us  in  his  book,  Forty  Years 


284  TELEGRAPH. 

at  the  Post-office:  'Five  powerful  telegraph  companies 
were  in  existence — The  Electric  and  International,  the 
British  and  Irish  Magnetic,  the  United  Kingdom,  the 
Universal  Private,  and  the  London  and  Provincial  Com- 
panies. There  were  others  of  less  importance.  Terms 
had  to  be  made  with  all  of  them.  The  railway  interest 
had  to  be  considered,  and  the  submarine  companies  to  be 
thought  of,  though  not  bought.'  With  strong  and  well- 
organised  interests  like  these  fighting  hard  to  secure  for 
themselves  the  very  best  possible  terms,  the  government 
had  not  unnaturally  to  submit  to  a  hard  bargain  before 
they  could  obtain  from  Parliament  the  powers  which  they 
.required.  However,  after  a  severe  struggle,  the  necessary 
Bill  was  successfully  passed,  and  the  consequent  Money 
Bill  became  law  in  the  following  session.  As  the  result  of 
this  action,  the  telegraphs  became  the  property  of  the  State 
upon  the  29th  of  January  1870,  and  upon  the  5th  of  the 
following  month  the  actual  transfer  took  place.  The  step 
seems  to  have  been  taken  none  too  soon,  for  under  the 
companies  the  telegraphs  had  been  worked  in  a  manner 
far  from  satisfactory  to  the  public.  Many  districts  had 
been  completely  neglected,  and  even  between  important 
centres  the  service  had  been  quite  inadequate.  Moreover, 
charges  had  been  high,  and  exasperating  delays  of  frequent 
occurrence. 

Six  million  pounds  was  the  sum  first  voted  by  Parlia- 
ment for  the  purchase  of  the  telegraphs,  and  this  was 
practically  all  swallowed  up  in  compensation.  The 
Electric  and  International  Company  received  ,£2,938,826  • 
the  Magnetic  Company,  £1,243,536  ;  Reuter's  Telegram 
Company,  £"726,000;  the  United  Kingdom  Company, 
£562,264;  the  Universal  Private  Company,  £184,421; 
and  the  London  and  Provincial  Company,  £"60,000. 
But  large  as  these  amounts  were,  they  only  made  up 
about  one-half  of  the  expenditure  which  the  government 


THE    STATE    AND    THE    TELEGRAPHS.  285 

had  to  incur,  and  the  total  cost  ultimately  reached  the 
enormous  sum  of  eleven  millions.  Some  idea  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  extra  five  millions  was  expended 
may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  between  October  1869 
and  October  1870,  about  15,000  miles  of  iron  wire,  nearly 
2000  miles  of  gutta-percha-covered  copper  wire,  about 
100,000  poles,  and  1,000,000  other  fittings  were  purchased 
and  fixed  in  position,  3500  telegraph  instruments  and 
15,000  batteries  were  acquired,  and  about  2400  new 
telegraphists  and  temporary  assistants  were  trained.  The 
total  expenditure  was  so  vast  that  the  Treasury  eventually 
took  fright,  and  in  1875  a  committee  was  appointed  'to 
investigate  the  causes  of  the  increased  cost  of  the  tele- 
graph service  since  the  acquisition  of  the  telegraphs  by 
the  State.' 

This  committee  found  that  the  following  were  the  three 
main  causes  of  the  increase  :  The  salaries  of  all  the 
officials  of  the  telegraph  companies  had  been  largely 
increased  after  their  entry  into  the  government  service ; 
the  supervising  staff  maintained  by  the  State  was  much 
more  costly  than  that  formerly  employed  by  the  com- 
panies ;  and  a  large  additional  outlay  had  been  forced 
upon  the  government  in  connection  with  the  maintenance 
of  the  telegraph  lines.  '  It  would  not,'  they  say  in  their 
report,  '  be  possible,  in  our  opinion,  for  various  reasons, 
for  the  government  to  work  at  so  cheap  a  rate  as  the 
telegraph  companies,  but  ...  a  reasonable  expectation 
might  be  entertained  that  the  working  expenses  could 
be  kept  within  seventy  or  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  the 
gross  revenue,  and  the  responsible  officers  of  the  Post- 
office  telegraph  service  should  be  urged  to  work  up  to 
that  standard.  Such  a  result  would  cover  the  cost  of 
working,  and  the  sum  necessary  for  payment  of  interest  on 
the  debt  incurred  in  the  purchase  of  the  telegraphs.'  In 
regard    to    this   question    of  cost,    Mr   Baines   most    truly 


286  TF.LEGRAPH. 

remarks  that  the  real  stumbling-block  of  the  Department 
was,  and  still  is,  'the  interest  payable  on  ^£n,ooo,coo 
capital  outlay,  equal  at,  say,  three  per  cent,  to  a  charge  of 
,£330,000  a  year.' 

The  transfer  of  the  telegraphs  to  the  State  was  immedi- 
ately followed  by  a  startling  increase  in  the  number  of 
messages  sent.  In  fact,  the  public,  attracted  by  the 
shilling  rate,  poured  in  telegrams  so  fast,  and  were  so  well 
supported  by  the  news-agencies,  who  took  full  advantage 
of  the  reduced  scale,  that  there  was  at  first  some  danger 
of  a  collapse.  Fortunately,  however,  the  staff  was  equal 
to  the  emergency,  and  after  the  first  rush  was  over,  every- 
thing worked  with  perfect  smoothness. 

During  the  next  four  years  the  enlargement  of  business 
was  simply  extraordinary.  In  1875  the  rate  of  increase 
was  not  maintained  at  quite  so  high  a  level,  but  neverthe- 
less nearly  1,650,000  more  messages  were  dealt  with  than 
during  the  previous  year.  The  quantity  of  matter  trans- 
mitted for  Press  purposes  was  also  much  greater  than  it 
had  ever  been  before,  and  amounted  to  more  than 
220,000,000  words. 

In  1895  tne  number  of  telegraph  offices  at  post-offices 
was  7409,  in  addition  to  2252  at  railway  stations,  or  a 
grand  total  of  9661.  The  number  of  ordinary  inland 
messages  sent  during  the  year  was  71,589,064. 

In  regard  to  the  great  increase  of  pace  in  the  trans- 
mission of  telegraphic  messages,  Mr  Baines  tells  us  that, 
*  looking  back  fifty  years,  we  see  wires  working  at  the  rate 
of  eight  words  a  minute,  or  an  average  of  four  words  per 
wire  per  minute,  over  relatively  short  distances.  Now, 
there  is  a  potentiality  of  400  words — nay,  even  600  or 
700  words — per  wire  per  minute,  over  very  long  distances. 
As  the  invention  of  duplex  working  has  been  supplemented 
by  the  contrivances  for  multiplex  working  (one  line 
sufficing  to  connect  several  different  offices  in  one  part  of 


THE    TELEPHONE.  287 

the  country  with  one  or  more  offices  in  another  part),  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  put  a  limit  to  the  carrying  capacity 
of  a  single  wire.'  In  1866  the  time  occupied  in  sending  a 
telegram  between  London  and  Bournemouth  was  two 
hours,  and  between  Manchester  and  Bolton,  two  hours 
and  a  quarter;  while  in  1893  the  times  occupied  were  ten 
minutes  and  five  minutes  respectively. 

Press  telegrams  have  enormously  increased  in  number 
and  length  since  the  purchase  of  the  telegraph  system  by 
the  State.  When  the  companies  owned  the  wires,  the 
news  service  from  London  to  the  provinces  was  ordinarily 
not  more  than  a  column  of  print  a  night.  At  the  present 
time  the  news  service  of  the  Press  Association  alone  over 
the  Post-office  wires  to  papers  outside  the  metropolis 
averages  fully  500  columns  nightly.  Since  1870  this 
Association  has  paid  the  Post-office  ,£750,000  for  tele- 
graphic charges,  and  in  addition  to  this,  very  large  sums 
have  been  paid  by  the  London  and  provincial  daily  papers 
for  the  independent  transmission  of  news,  and  by  the 
principal  journals  in  the  country  for  the  exclusive  use, 
during  certain  hours,  of  'special  wires.'  Some  of  the 
leading  papers  in  the  provinces  receive  ten  or  more 
columns  of  specially  telegraphed  news  on  nights  when 
important  matters  are  under  discussion  in  Parliament ;  and 
from  this  some  idea  may  be  formed  of  the  amount  of 
business  now  transacted  between  the  Press  and  the 
Telegraph  Department. 


THE    TELEPHONE. 


So  much  have  times  altered  in  the  last  fifty  years,  that 
the  electric  telegraph  itself,  which  now  reaches  its  thin 
arms  into  more  than  six  thousand  offices,  is  threatened  in 
its  turn  with  serious  rivalry  at  the  hands  of  a  youthful  but 


288  TELEPHONE. 

vigorous  competitor,  the  telephone.  Its  advantages  are 
such  that  its  ultimate  popularity  cannot  be  a  matter  of 
doubt.  It  is  no  small  benefit  to  be  able  to  recognise 
voices,  to  transact  business  with  promptitude  by  word  of 
mouth,  to  get  a  reply,  'Yes'  or  'No,'  on  the  spot,  instead 
of  having  to  rush  to  the  nearest  telegraph  office. 

Great  inventions  are  often  conceived  a  long  time  before 
they  are  realised  in  practice.  Sometimes  the  original  idea 
occurs  to  the  man  who  subsequently  works  it  out ;  and 
sometimes  it  comes  as  a  happy  thought  to  one  who  is 
either  in  advance  of  his  age,  or  who  is  prevented  by 
adverse  circumstances  from  following  it  up,  and  who  yet 
lives  to  see  the  day  when  some  more  fortunate  individual 
gives  it  a  material  shape,  and  so  achieves  the  fame  which 
was  denied  to  him.  Such  is  the  case  of  M.  Charles 
Bourselle,  who  in  1854  proposed  a  form  of  speaking- 
telephone,  which,  although  not  practicable  in  its  first 
crude  condition,  might  have  led  its  originator  to  a  more 
successful  instrument  if  he  had  pursued  the  subject 
further. 

The  telephone  is  an  instrument  designed  to  reproduce 
sounds  at  a  distance  by  means  of  electricity.  It  was  be- 
lieved by  most  people,  and  even  by  eminent  electricians, 
that  the  speaking-telephone  had  never  been  dreamed  of 
by  any  one  before  Professor  Graham  Bell  introduced  his 
marvellous  little  apparatus  to  the  scientific  world.  But 
that  was  a  mistake.  More  than  one  person  had  thought 
of  such  a  thing,  Bourselle  among  the  number.  Philip 
Reis,  a  German  electrician,  had  even  constructed  an 
electric  telephone  in  1864,  which  transmitted  words  with 
some  degree  of  perfection ;  and  the  assistant  of  Reis 
asserts  that  it  was  designed  to  carry  music  as  well  as  words. 
Professor  Bell,  in  devising  his  telephone,  copied  the  human 
ear  with  its  vibrating  drum.  The  first  iron  plate  he  used 
as  a  vibrator  was  a  little  piece  of  clock-spring  glued  to  a 


THE   TELEPHONE.  2S9 

parchment  diaphragm,  and  on  saying  to  the  spring  on  the 
telephone  at  one  end  of  the  line  : '  Do  you  understand  what 
I  say  ? '  the  answer  from  his  assistant  at  the  other  end  came 
back  immediately :  '  Yes ;  I  understand  you  perfectly.' 
The  sounds  were  feeble,  and  he  had  to  hold  his  ear  close 
to  the  little  piece  of  iron  on  the  parchment,  but  they  were 
distinct  ;•  and  though  Reis  had  transmitted  certain  single 
words  some  ten  years  before,  Bell  was  the  first  to  make  a 
piece  of  matter  utter  sentences.  Reis  gave  the  electric 
wire  a  tongue  so  that  it  could  mumble  like  an  infant ;  but 
Bell  taught  it  to  speak. 

The  next  step  is  attributed  to  Mr  Elisha  Gray  of  Chicago, 
who  sent  successions  of  electrical  current  of  varying  strength 
as  well  as  of  varying  frequency  into  the  circuit,  and  thus 
enabled  the  relative  loudness  as  well  as  the  pitch  of  sounds 
to  be  transmitted ;  and  who  afterwards  took  the  important 
step  of  using  the  variations  of  a  steady  current.  These 
variations,  positive  and  negative,  are  capable  of  repre- 
senting all  the  back-and-fore  variations  of  position  of  a 
particle  of  air,  however  irregular  these  may  be  :  and  he 
secured  them  by  making  the  sound-waves  set  a  diaphragm 
in  vibration.  This  diaphragm  carried  a  metallic  point 
which  dipped  in  dilute  sulphuric  acid ;  the  deeper  it  dipped 
the  less  was  the  resistance  to  a  current  passing  through 
the  acid,  and  vice  versa:  so  that  every  variation  in  the 
position  of  the  diaphragm  produced  a  corresponding 
variation  in  the  intensity  of  the  current :  and  the  varying 
current  acted  upon  a  distant  electro-magnet,  which  accord- 
ingly fluctuated  in  strength,  and  in  its  attraction  for  a  piece 
of  soft  iron  suspended  on  a  flexible  diaphragm  :  this  piece 
of  soft  iron  accordingly  oscillated,  pulling  the  flexible  dia- 
phragm with  it ;  and  the  variations  of  pressure  in  the  air 
acted  upon  by  the  diaphragm  produced  waves,  reproducing 
the  characteristics  of  the  original  sound-waves,  and  per- 
ceived by   the   ear  as  reproducing  the  original  sound  or 

s 


290  PHONOGRAPH. 

voice.  Mr  Gray  lodged  a  caveat  for  this  contrivance  in 
the  United  States  Patent  Office  on  14th  February  1876; 
but  on  the  same  day  Professor  Alexander  Graham  Bell 
filed  a  specification  and  drawings  of  the  original  Bell 
telephone. 

Bell's  telephone  was  first  exhibited  in  America  at  the 
Centennial  Exhibition  in  Philadelphia  in  1876;.  and  in 
England,  at  the  Glasgow  meeting  of  the  British  Association 
in  September  of  that  year.  On  that  occasion,  Sir  William 
Thomson  (now  Lord  Kelvin)  pronounced  it,  with  enthu- 
siasm, to  be  the  'greatest  of  all  the  marvels  of  the 
electric  telegraph.'  The  surprise  created  by  its  first 
appearance  was,  however,  nothing  to  the  astonishment 
and  delight  which  it  aroused  in  this  country  when  Pro- 
fessor Bell,  the  following  year,  himself  exhibited  it  in 
London  to  the  Society  of  Telegraph  Engineers.  Since 
then,  its  introduction  as  a  valuable  aid  to  social  life  has 
been  very  rapid,  and  the  telephone  is  now  to  be  found 
in  use  from  China  to  Peru. 


THOMAS    ALVA    EDISON    AND    THE    PHONOGRAPH. 

The  Phonograph  is  an  instrument  for  mechanically 
recording  and  reproducing  articulate  human  speech, 
song,  &c.  It  was  invented  by  Mr  T.  A.  Edison  in  the 
spring  of  1877,  at  his  Menlo  Park  Laboratory,  New 
Jersey,  and  came  into  existence  as  the  result  of  one  of 
the  many  lines  of  experiment  he  was  then  engaged  upon. 

Thomas  Alva  Edison,  this  notable  American  inventor, 
was  born  at  Milan,  Ohio,  nth  February  1847,  DUt  ms 
early  years  were  spent  at  Port  Huron,  Michigan.  His 
father  was  of  Dutch,  and  his  mother  of  Scotch  descent ; 
the  latter,  having  been  a  teacher,  gave  him  what  schooling 
he  received.     Edison  was  a  great  reader  in  his  youth,  and 


292  PHONOGRAPH. 

at  the  age  of  twelve  he  became  a  newsboy  on  the  Grand 
Trunk  Line  running  into  Detroit,  and  began  to  experiment 
in  chemistry.  Gaining  the  exclusive  right  of  selling  news- 
papers on  this  line,  and  purchasing  some  old  type,  with 
the  aid  of  four  assistants  he  printed  and  issued  the  Grand 
Trunk  Herald^  the  first  newspaper  printed  in  a  railway 
train.  A  station-master,  in  gratitude  for  his  having  saved 
his  child  from  the  front  of  an  advancing  train,  taught  him 
telegraphy,  in  which  he  had  previously  been  greatly 
interested ;  and  thenceforward  he  concentrated  the 
energies  of  a  very  versatile  mind  chiefly  upon  electrical 
studies. 

Edison  invented  an  automatic  repeater,  by  means  of 
which  messages  could  be  sent  from  one  wire  to  another 
without  the  intervention  of  the  operator.  His  system  of 
duplex  telegraphy  was  perfected  while  a  telegraph  operator 
in  Boston,  but  was  not  entirely  successful  until  1872.  In 
1 87 1  he  became  superintendent  of  the  New  York  Gold 
and  Stock  Company,  and  here  invented  the  printing- 
telegraph  for  gold  and  stock  quotations,  for  the  manu- 
facture of  which  he  established  a  workshop  at  Newark, 
N.J.,  continuing  there  till  his  removal  to  Menlo  Park,  N.J., 
in  1876.  Ten  years  later  he  settled  at  Orange,  at  the  foot 
of  the  Orange  Mountains,  his  large  premises  at  Menlo 
Park  having  grown  too  small  for  him. 

His  inventive  faculties  now  getting  full  play,  he  took 
out  over  fifty  patents  in  connection  with  improvements 
in  telegraphy,  including  the  duplex,  quadruplex,  and 
sextuplex  system ;  the  carbon  telephone  transmitter ; 
microtasimeter ;  aerophone,  for  amplifying  sound ;  the 
megaphone,  for  magnifying  sound.  Thence  also  emanated 
his  phonograph,  a  form  of  telephone,  and  various  practical 
adaptations  of  the  electric  light.  His  kinetoscope  (1894) 
is  a  development  of  the  Zoetrope,  in  which  the  continuous 
picture  is  obtained  from  a  swift  succession  of  instantaneous 


THOMAS    ALVA    EDISON    AND    THE    PHONOGRAPH.        293 

photographs  (taken  46  or  more  in  a  second),  and  printed 
on  a  strip  of  celluloid.  Of  late  he  has  devoted  himself  to 
improving  metallurgic  methods.  He  has  taken  out  some 
500  patents,  and  founded  many  companies  at  home  and  in 
Europe. 

Following  up  some  of  his  telegraphic  inventions,  he  had 
developed  a  machine  which,  by  reason  of  the  indentations 
made  on  paper,  would  transfer  a  message  in  Morse  char- 
acters from  one  circuit  to  another  automatically,  through 
the  agency  of  a  tracing-point  connected  with  a  circuit- 
closing  device.  Upon  revolving  with  rapidity  the  cylinder 
that  carried  the  indented  or  embossed  paper  Mr  Edison 
found  that  the  indentations  could  be  reproduced  with 
immense  rapidity  through  the  vibration  of  the  tracing- 
point.  He  at  once  saw  that  he  could  vibrate  a  diaphragm 
by  the  sound-waves  of  the  voice,  and,  by  means  of  a  stylus 
attached  to  the  diaphragm,  make  them  record  themselves 
upon  an  impressible  substance  placed  on  the  revolving 
cylinder.  The  record  being  made  thus,  the  diaphragm 
would,  when  the  stylus  again  traversed  the  cylinder,  be 
thrown  into  the  same  vibrations  as  before,  and  the  actual 
reproduction  of  human  speech,  or  any  other  sound,  would 
be  the  result.  The  invention  thought  out  in  this  manner 
was  at  once  tried,  with  paraffined  paper  as  the  receiving 
material,  and  afterwards  with  tinfoil,  the  experiment  prov- 
ing a  remarkable  success,  despite  the  crudity  of  the 
apparatus.  In  1878  Mr  Edison  made  a  number  of 
phonographs,  which  were  exhibited  in  America  and 
Europe,  and  attracted  universal  attention.  The  records 
were  made  in  these  on  soft  tinfoil  sheets  fastened  around 
metal  cylinders.  For  a  while  Mr  Edison  was  compelled 
to  suspend  work  on  this  invention,  but  soon  returned  to  it 
and  worked  out  the  machine  as  it  exists  practically  to-day. 
It  occupies  about  the  same  space  as  a  hand  sewing- 
machine.     A  light  tube   of  wax  to  slide  on  and  off  the 


294  PHONOGRAPH. 

cylinder  is  substituted  for  the  tinfoil,  which  had  been 
wrapped  round  it,  and  the  indenting  stylus  is  replaced  by 
a  minute  engraving  point.  Under  the  varying  pressure  of 
the  sound-waves,  this  point  or  knife  cuts  into  the  tube 
almost  imperceptibly,  the  wax  chiselled  away  wreathing  off 
in  very  fine  spirals  before  the  edge  of  the  little  blade,  as 
the  cylinder  travels  under  it.  Each  cylinder  will  receive 
about  a  thousand  words.  In  the  improved  machine  Mr 
Edison-  at  first  employed  two  diaphragms  in  'spectacle' 
form,  one  to  receive  and  the  other  to  reproduce  j  but  he 
has  since  combined  these  in  a  single  efficient  attachment. 
The  wax  cylinders  can  be  used  several  hundred  times,  the 
machine  being  fitted  with  a  small  paring  tool  which  will 
shave  off  the  record  previously  made,  leaving  a  smooth 
new  surface.  The  machine  has  also  been  supplemented 
by  the  inventor  with  an  ingenious  little  electric  motor  with 
delicate  governing  mechanism,  so  that  the  phonograph 
can  be  operated  at  any  chosen  rate  of  speed,  uniformly. 
This  motor  derives  its  energising  current  either  from  an 
Edison-Lalande  primary  battery,  a  storage  battery,  or  an 
electric-light  circuit. 

The  new  and  perfected  Edison  phonograph  has  already 
gone  into  very  general  use,  and  many  thousands  are 
distributed  in  American  business  offices,  where  they 
facilitate  correspondence  in  a  variety  of  ways.  They  are 
also  employed  by  stenographers  as  a  help  in  the  transcrip- 
tion of  their  shorthand  notes.  Heretofore  these  notes 
have  been  slowly  dictated  to  amanuenses,  but  they  are 
now  frequently  read  off  to  a  phonograph,  and  then  written 
out  at  leisure.  The  phonograph  is,  however,  being  used 
for  direct  stenograph  work,  and  it  reported  verbatim 
40,000  words  of  discussion  at  one  convention  held  in 
1890,  the  words  being  quietly  repeated  into  the  machine 
by  the  reporter  as  quickly  as  they  were  uttered  by  the 
various  speakers.     A  large  number  of  machines  are  in  use 


THOMAS   ALVA    EDISON   AND   THE   PHONOGRAPH.        295 

by  actors,  clergymen,  musicians,  reciters,  and  others,  to 
improve  their  elocution  and  singing.  Automatic  phono- 
graphs are  also  to  be  found  in  many  places  of  public 
resort,  equipped  with  musical  or  elocutionary  cylinders, 
which  can  be  heard  upon  the  insertion  of  a  small  coin  ; 
and  miniature  phonographs  have  been  applied  to  dolls  and 
toys.  The  value  of  the  phonograph  in  the  preservation  of 
dying  languages  has  been  perceived  too,  and  records  have 
already  been  secured  of  the  speech,  songs,  war-cries,  and 
folklore  of  American  tribes  now  becoming  extinct.  It  is 
also  worthy  of  note  that  several  voice  records  remain  of 
distinguished  men,  who  'being  dead  yet  speak.'  Their 
tones  can  now  be  renewed  at  will,  and  their  very  utter- 
ances, faithful  in  accent  and  individuality,  can  be  heard 
again  and  again  through  all  time. 

Improvements  are  being  made  in  the  wholesale  repro- 
duction of  phonographic  cylinders,  by  electrotyping  and 
other  processes ;  and  the  machine,  in  a  more  or  less 
modified  form,  is  being  introduced  as  a  means  of  furnish- 
ing a  record  of  communications  through  the  telephone. 
Phonographic  clocks,  books,  and  other  devices  have  also 
been  invented  by  Mr  Edison,  whose  discovery  is  evidently 
of  a  generic  nature,  opening  up  a  large  and  entirely  new 
field  in  the  arts  and  sciences. 


THE   END. 


Edinburgh : 
Printed  by  W.  &  R.  Chambers,  Limited. 


BOOKS    COMPILED    BY 
EOBEET     COCHRANE 

PUBLISHED  BY 

W.  &  R.  CHAMBERS,  Limited. 


ADVENTURE  AND  ADVENTURERS.  Being  True  Tales  of 
Daring,  Peril,  and  Heroism.     Illustrated.  2/6 

GOOD  AND  GREAT  WOMEN.  Lives  of  Queen  Victoria, 
Florence  Nightingale,  Jenny  Lind,  &c.     Illustrated.       2/6 

BENEFICENT  AND  USEFUL  LIVES.  Lives  of  Lord  Shaftes- 
bury, George  Peabody,  Sir  W.  Besant,  Samuel  Morley, 
Sir  J.  Y.  Simpson,  &c.     Illustrated.  2/6 

GREAT  THINKERS  AND  WORKERS.  Lives  of  Thomas 
Carlyle,  Lord  Armstrong,  Lord  Tennyson,  Charles 
Dickens,  W.  M.  Thackeray,  Sir  H.  Bessemer,  James 
Nasmyth,  &c.     Illustrated.  2/6 

RECENT  TRAVEL  AND  ADVENTURE.  Travels  of  H.  M. 
Stanley,  Lieutenant  Greely,  Joseph  Thomson,  Dr  Living- 
stone, Lady  Brassey,  Arminius  Vambery,  Sir  Richard 
Burton,  &c.     Illustrated.  2/6 

GREAT  HISTORIC  EVENTS.  Indian  Mutiny,  French 
Revolution,  the  Crusades,  Conquest  of  Mexico,  &c. 
Illustrated.  2/6 


London  and  Edinburgh. 


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